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CONSERVATION  OF 
NATURAL    RESOURCES 


Meeting  of  Engineers 
March  24th,   1909 


TELEGRAM  FROM  PRESIDENT  WILLIAM  H.  TAFT. 

INTRODUCTORY   ADDRESS 

Dr.  James  Douglas 

THE  CONSERVATION  OF  WATER 

John  R.  Freeman,  M.  Am.  See.  C.  E.    - 

THE  CONSERVATION  OF  NATURAL  RESOURCES 

BY  LEGISLATION 
RossiTER  W.  Raymond,  M.  Am.  Inst.  M.  E. 

THE  WASTE  OF  OUR  NATURAL  RESOURCES  BY  FIRE 

Charles  Whiting  Baker,  M.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 

i.LECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY 

Lewis  B.  Stillwell,  M.  Am.  Inst.   E.  E. 


CONSERVATION  OF  NATURAL  RESOURCES 


MEETING    OF   ENGINEERS 

CALLED  JOINTLY  BY 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  CIVIL  ENGINEERS 

THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  MINING  ENGINEERS 

THE  AMERICAN  SOCIETY  OF  MECHANICAL   ENGINEERS 

THE  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  ELECTRICAL  ENGINEERS. 


In  the  Auditorium  of  the 
ENGINEERING     BUILDING 

29    West   39th    Street, 

NEW  YORK  CITY, 

MARCH     24th,     1  909. 


PRESIDING  OFFICER 

Dr.  JAMES   DOUGLAS. 


SPEAKERS 

JOHN   R.    FREEMAN,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E 

ROSSITER  W.  RAYMOND,  M.  Am.  Inst.  M.  E. 

CHARLES  WHITING  BAKER,  M.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E 

LEWIS   B.   STILLWELL,  M.  Am.  Inst.  E.  E. 


PUBLISHED  JOINTLY  BY  THE  SOCIETIES 


TELEGKAM  FROM  PRESIDENT,  WILLIAM  11.  TAET. 
Presented  by  Mr.  John  Hays  Hammond. 

"The  White  House, 

"Washington,  March  24. 
"John  Hays  IL\mmond: 

"Please  say  to  Joint  Engineering  Societies  that  I  am  greatly 
gratified  to  know  of  their  co-operation  in  the  movement  for  the  con- 
servation of  the  natursll  resources  of  the  country.  The  members  of 
these  societies  with  their  technical  knowledge  are  not  only  better 
advised  as  to  the  necessity  for  such  conservation,  but  are  more  com- 
petent to  suggest  the  methods  by  which  such  conservation  can  be 
carried  out.  I  have  already  pledged  the  Administration  to  as  full 
support  as  possible  of  the  policy,  and  I  am  glad  to  renew  my  expression 
of  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and  to  state  my  high  estimate  of  the 
value  of  the  aid  which  can  be  rendered  by  the  United  Engineering 
Societies. 

"Wm.  H.  Taft.'' 


^ff/S-7^ 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS. 

Dr.  James  Douglas. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  say,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  that  I  am  a  sub- 
stitute. Mr.  Bates,  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, wishes  to  express  his  regret,  regret  that  I  know  you  all  appre- 
ciate, that  sickness  at  home  obliges  him  to  be  absent.  I  can  only 
feel  confusion  at  having  to  fill  his  chair,  and  yet  not  fill  his  place. 

It  is  a,  pleasure  to  us  all  as  engineers  of  different  schools  to  meet 
in  a  common  cause,  for  it  brings  home  the  proof  of  our  mutual 
dependence.  Every  advance  in  technical  science  and  practice  is  made 
through  the  co-operation  of  two  or  more  of  the  branches  of  the  engi- 
neering fraternities.  The  miner  and  metallurgist  are  always  more  or 
less  helpless  without  the  aid  of  the  mechanical  engineer,  and  now  both 
must  call  in  the  electrical  engineer  to  their  assistance  if  engaged  in 
work  of  any  magnitude.  In  one  endeavor,  however,  we  are  all  united,  j* 
that  is,  in  trying  to  utilize  to  the  utmost  Nature's  resources;  for  our  ^|» 
business  is  to  handle  Nature's  raw  material,  and  convert  it  into  more 
or  less  refined  and  specialized  compounds  and  forms.  In  so  doing,  we 
are  learning  more  and  more  how  to  avail  ourselves  of  Nature's  forces. 
By  the  very  virtue  of  our  work  as  we  study  the  properties  of  matter,  we  '; 
are  driven  to  employ  as  little  material  and  as  little  energy — whether' 
our  own  or  Nature's — as  will  serve  our  purpose,  if  for  no  other  reason' 
than  that  both  material  and  energy  cost  money. 

Ever  since  the  great  revival  of  industry,  therefore,  three-quarters 
of  a  century  ago,  engineers,  whether  mining,  metallurgical,  civil  or 
mechanical,  have  combined  in  using  their  best  skill  and  most  com- 
petent efforts  in  the  direction  of  saving — not  of  wasting.  That  they 
have  not  succeeded  in  reaching  the  ultimate  consummation  of  recover- 
ing everything  and  losing  nothing  is  not  their  fault.  They  have,  how- 
over,  always  seen  a  practical  goal  ahead  of  them,  and  their  efforts  have 
been  unanimous  and  strong  to  reach  it. 

I  have  said  that  some  or  all  branches  of  the  Engineering  Profession 
have  had  to  combine  to  attain  even  the  success  which  has  been  as  yet 
reached.  Take  what  might  be  considered  a  purely  metallurgical  problem 
such  as  that  which  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  succeeded  in  solving  when 
he  perfected  the  pneumatic  method  of  making  steel.  The  chemical 
and  metallurgical  principles  involved  had  been  thoroughly  understood. 
It  was  only  by  bringing  his  mechanical  knowledge,  skill,  and  ingenuity 
to  bear  upon  his  experiments  that  he  succeeded  where  others  failed. 
That  the  method  was  carried  out,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  on  so  much 


399152 


4  INTRODUCTORY    ADDRESS 

more  vigorous  a  scale  than  abroad  was  due  more  to  the  brilliant  genius 
of  Holley  as  a  mechanician  than  as  a  metallurgist.  The  same  is  true 
in  every  great  advance  made  in  the  field  of  metallurgy.  The  improve- 
ments in  iron  blast-furnace  practice  have  been  due  more  to  the 
engineer  than  to  the  metallurgist. 

A  glimpse  back  in  any  direction  will  show  that  the  engineer  has 
not  been  guilty  of  knowingly  and  wilfully  wasting.  Of  the  two  sub- 
jects that  seem  to  distress  the  public  mind  most  at  the  present  time — 
the  destruction  of  our  forests  and  the  supposed  wilful  waste  of  our  fuel 
— the  engineer  can  be  held  responsible  for  only  the  latter.  The  subject 
of  forestry  may  be  considered  as  more  within  the  domain  of  the  agri- 
culturist than  of  the  engineer.  I  have  not  very  clear  ideas  with  regard 
to  forestry,  nor  do  I  think  that  most  of  the  people  who  preach  upon 
the  subject  could  carry  their  precepts  into  practice,  if  called  upon 
to  do  so.  Considering  that  our  forests  have  all  been  largely  stripped 
of  their  best  trees,  we  have  not  seen  any  feasible  scheme  proposed  by 
which  scientific  forestry  on  a  large  and  profitable  scale  can  be  applied 
to  the  recovery  of  what  remains  uncut.  Apart,  however,  from  re- 
forestation, there  are  many  defects  in  our  lumbering  system  which 
call   for   stringent   remedies. 

But  with  regard  to  the  waste  of  coal  underground,  as  mining  engi- 
neers we  have  to  do.  For  the  waste  of  heat  and  the  power-giving  prop- 
erties of  coal  above  ground,  the  civil  and  mechanical  engineers  are 
more  or  less  responsible.  I  think,  as  a  mining  engineer,  that  the 
,  |/  question  of  waste  is  one  that  must  be  considered  relatively  and  not 
\j)  absolutely,  and  mining  waste,  therefore,  opens  up  a  very  wide  and 
'  debatable  field  of  controversy.  But  I  am  sure  that  when  we  look  back 
upon  the  last  three-quarters  of  a  century,  we  must  be  struck  with  the 
immense  advance  that  has  been  made,  through  the  co-operation  of  the 
metallurgical  and  mechanical  engineers,  in  saving  fuel.  The  old  blast 
furnace  used  to  consume  37  cwt.  of  coke  per  ton  of  pig-iron,  the  modem 
one  consumes  less  than  20.  This  saving  alone  on  our  present  produc- 
tion of  pig  iron,  assuming  that  a  ton  of  coke  is  made  from  If  tons  of 
coal,  approximates  40  000  000  tons  of  coal.  This  saving  is  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  utilization  of  the  waste  gases  in  the  heated  blast;  but 
the  waste  heat  over  and  above  that  consumed  in  the  hot  blast  stoves  is 
sujficient  to  generate  the  steam  of  the  blowing  engine  and  leave  a 
surplus  for  running  the  rolling  mill.  And,  not  satisfied  with  using 
up  these  waste  gases,  the  metallurgical  chemist  in  some  instances  is 
endeavoring  to  extract  their  chemical  ingredients  from  the  gases  before 
utilizing  their  combustible  properties.  The  saving,  therefore,  of  coal 
within  the  stack  itself  is  only  a  part  of  the  total  saving  under  modern 
blast-furnace  practice.  The  Bessemer  process  eliminating  the  direct 
use  of  coal  in  the  converting  of  pig  iron  into  steel,  and  the  use  of 
gaseous  fuel  in  the  open-hearth  regenerative  furnace,  probably  repre- 


INTRODUCTORY    ADDRESS 


sents  an  annual  saving  of  another  20  000  000  tons  of  coal.  The  fuel 
saved  by  generating  electricity  and  distributing  it  to  our  great  rolling 
mills,  and  thus  dispensing  with  the  innumerable  small  steam  and  power- 
generating  plants  throughout  the  works,  must  add  several  millions  more 
to  ur  credit.  What,  therefore,  the  consumption  of  coal  would  be,  had 
not  the  wits  of  every  branch  of  the  Engineering  Profession  been  exer- 
cised in  trying  to  save,  it  is  appalling  to  contemplate. 

But  when  we  turn  to  pure  engineering  and  take  what  has  been 
saved  by  the  quadruple  expansion  cut-off  engine  as  against  the  old 
slide-valve  engines  of  not  over  a  generation  ago,  the  old  engine  burning 
from  5  to  7  lb.  of  coal  per  horse-power  as  against  1^  to  2  lb.  in  every 
modern  engine  of  good  design,  we  have  a  further  saving  of  almost  an  in- 
credible amount— certainly  not  less  than  40  000  000  or  50  000  000  tons 
of  coal  a  year.  And  yet  neither  in  the  blast  furnace  nor  in  the  best- 
equipped  boiler  and  steam-engine  plants  is  there  an  approach  to  recov- 
ering the  full  equivalent  of  the  heat.  While,  therefore,  I  think  we 
need  not  be  seized  with  serious  compunctions  of  conscience  for  not 
having  endeavored  to  save  this  important  item  of  the  natural  resources, 
no  class  of  men  is  so  keenly  conscious  of  what  remains  to  be  done 
as  the  members  of  the  engineering  fraternity.  If  the  figures  given 
in  Mr.  Lewis'  recent  articles  on  fuel  and  its  future  be  correct,  a  steam 
engine  consuming  2  lb.  of  coal  per  horse-power  hour  is  utilizing  only 
8.6%  of  the  heat  efficiency. 

But  when  we  find  that  the  Diesel  engine,  using  mineral  oil,  is 
giving  off  32%  of  the  heat  efficiency,  we  are  stimulated  to  try  and 
perfect  an  engine  which  will  utilize  fuel  to  better  purpose  than  the 
existing  steam  engine,  and  to  look  forward  to  the  day  when  at  least 
50%  of  the  total  calorific  value  will  be  converted  into  mechanical 
energy.* 

It  is  not  only  in  the  matter  of  coal  consumption  that  the  engineer 
is  succeeding  in  making  economies ;  it  is  in  the  quantity  of  every  mate- 
rial that  he  handles.  Our  civil  engineer  in  this  country,  relying  on 
the  accuracy  of  his  estimates  of  stresses  and  strains,  has  cut  down 
the  amount  of  iron  and  steel  put  into  our  bridges  or  into  the  skeletons 
of  our  large  buildings  almost  to  the  very  limit  of  safety,  and  some- 


*CosT  OF  Fuel  for  the 

Production  of  1  British  Horse-Power  Hour. 

Efficiency. 

Fuel  consumption 
per  B.  H.  P.  hour. 

Cost,  in  pence, 
per  B.  H.  P.  hour. 

Coal  (steam  engine) 

Coal  (turbine)   

8.6 
12.0 
32.0 
22.0 
22.0 
81.0 
81.0 

2.0   lb. 
1.7    '' 
0.6    " 
0.6    '^ 
0.55  " 

HO  cu.  ft. 

16      '• 

0.2 
0.17 

Oil  (Diesel) 

0.2 

Oil  (Crossley) 

0  3 

Petrol 

0.94 
0  1 

Coal-gas 

0.3 

6  INTRODUCTORY    ADDRESS 

times,  as  we  unfortunately  know,  below  that  point.  The  dread  of 
wasting  has  been  even  stronger  than  the  dread  of  endangering  human 
life. 

Then  again  we  have  the  metallurgist  and   chemist  at  work,  en- 
deavoring to  discover  methods  by  which  useful  metals  can  be  produced 
from  the  substances  of  the  earth's  crust,  which  exist  in  incalculable 
/quantity — such  as  aluminum.    Admitting  that  we  are  using  the  com- 
i   moner  metals  with  all  the  prudence  and  economy  that  can  be  devised, 
we  are  consuming  them  at  a  rate  which  within  a  calculable  period 
must  make  them  costly.     The  Engineering  Professions,  therefore,  are 
working  together  toward  discovering,  manufacturing,  and  then  apply- 
ing either  new  metals,  new  alloys  of  the  metals,  or  new  mineral  com- 
.  pounds,  with  the  object  of  finding  a  substitute  in  a  cheaper  metal 
'  for  a  costlier  one,  in  a  more  durable  metal  for  a  more  destructible 
one,  or  in  an  incombustible  substance  like  concrete  for  inflammable 
timber.   The  rarer  earths   are  being  made  into  mantels,  in  order  to 
increase  the  light  generated  from  the  same  quantity  of  gas  and  thereby 
to  save  fuel. 

You  will  be  told  by  Mr.  Stillwell  what  the  electrical  engineer  has 
done  in  the  conservation  of  energy,  and  perhaps  he  may  be  courageous 
enough  to  prophesy  what  the  electrical  engineer  may  yet  do,  but  that 
is  a  subject  upon  which  the  imagination  may  run  riot. 

It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  if  any  body  of  men  is  free  from  the 
crime  of  having  wilfully  or  carelessly  wasted  the  national  resources, 
they  are  the  engineers  of  the  four  great  classes,  a  representative  of 
each  of  which  will  address  you  this  evening.  They,  from  their  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  subjects  on  which  they  talk,  will  prescribe  saner 
remedies  for  the  evils — whose  existence  they  will  be  the  last  to  deny — 
than  either  the  t>oliticians  or  the  irresponsible,  anonymous  writers  in 
the  public  press. 


THE   CONSERVATION   OF   WATER. 
John  R.  Freeman,  M.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E. 

I  have  been  given,  this  evening,  twenty  minutes  in  which  to  speak 
on  the  Conservation  of  Water.  How  can  we  best  spend  this  time? 
The  conservation  of  water  for  Municipal  and  Domestic  Supply,  for 
Irrigation,  Navigation,  Power,  Industrial  Purposes,  and  for  Scenery, 
are  all  interesting  topics. 

The  logical  starting  point  for  study  in  each  case  is  the  water  that 
falls  irregularly  and  intermittently  from  the  sky,  and  conservation 
begins  with  its  detention  and  storage  in  snowbanks,  leaf  mould,  porous 
earth  or  surface  reservoirs,  and  we  should  particularly  study  the  most 
important  of  all  reservoirs,  the  porous  upper  strata  of  the  earth. 

It  is  plain  that  in  the  time  allowed  we  cannot  go  deeply  into  any 
one  of  these  subjects,  nor  is  it  the  purpose  of  this  evening  to  present 
treatises.  Perhaps  in  this  audience  of  engineers  we  can  best  use  some 
of  this  time  in  promoting  discussion  on  certain  misapplications  of  the 
doctrine  of  Forest  Influence  upon  Stream  Flow  and  one  or  two  other 
features  of  the  conservation  movement  that  have  been  urged  with  more 
attention  to  making  an  impression  than  to  scientific  truth. 

Lumhering  and  Stream  Flow. — It  has  been  broadly  stat€d  that  the 
cutting  off  of  the  forests  in  our  Eastern  mountains  has  increased  the 
floods,  intensified  the  droughts  and  greatly  injured  the  water  power 
of  our  rivers.  I  challenge  those  who  so  loudly  make  these  statements 
to  produce  proof! 

The  broad  truth  that  forest  cover  in  the  mountains  is  beneficial 
for  conserving  and  regulating  stream  flow  and  preventing  soil  erosion, 
is  too  firmly  established  to  be  shaken,  and  the  work  of  reforesting  and 
fire  guarding  should  be  pushed  with  tenfold  the  present  vigor,  but 
nevertheless,  let  us  as  engineers  caution  some  of  our  good  friends  to 
be  more  careful  in  their  applications  of  this  doctrine. 

To  be  more  specific,  the  statements  that  lessened  summer  flow, 
greater  floods,  or  the  shoaling  of  channels,  because  of  deforestation, 
have  come  to  the  water  powers  of  the  Merrimack  or  to  the  navigation 
of  the  Hudson,  rest  on  fancy  and  not  on  fact. 

It  is  my  belief,  based  on  many  years'  observation,  that  the  lumber- 
ing and  the  clearing  for  agriculture  that  have  been  going  on  in  these 
Eastern  mountain  regions  for  the  past  hundred  years  have  not  measur- 
ably affected  the  flow  in  flood  or  drought  of  any  important  rivers  of 
the  Wliite  Mountains  or  of  the  Adirondack  region,  and  probably  not 
of  those  of  the  Southern  Appalachians. 


8  THE    CONSERVATION    OF    WATER 

I  was  born  almost  within  the  edge  of  the  White  Mountain  forests, 
was  for  ten  years  engineer  with  a  water-power  company  on  the  Merri- 
mack, and  have  had  occasion  to  study  stream-flow  conditions  carefully 
in  certain  parts  of  the  Adirondacks  and  in  the  heart  of  the  North 
Carolina  mountains. 

The  daily  flow  of  the  Merrimack  probably  has  been  observed  with 
precision  for  a  longer  period  than  any  other  large  American  river,  and 
these  precise  measurements  reveal  no  progressive  increase  in  intensity 
of  flood  or  drought  and  no  decrease  of  average  flow. 

Why  should  they  ?  Traverse  the  highways  and  climb  the  hills  and  esti- 
mate the  percentage  of  cleared  land.  You  will  find  it  surprisingly  small. 
Note  the  abandoned  fields  and  pastures  that  have  grown  up  to  woods. 
It  takes  40  years  to  grow  a  good  pine,  and  from  100  to  200  years  to 
grow  a  good  stock  of  spruce  timber,  but  go  where  the  lumberman  has 
been  but  five  or  ten  years  ago  in  these  Eastern  mountains  and  see  how 
soon  the  scars  that  he  left  are  healed.  There  are  some  small  regions  of 
speciar sterility  where  the  fire  has  followed  him  and  made  a  deeper  scar, 
but  the  percentage  of  area  in  these  is  small.  The  sprout  land  is  nearly 
as  efficient  as  timberland  for  stream  flow.  The  cutting  out  of  scattered 
merchantable  spruce,  hemlock,  balsam  or  pine,  from  among  the  large 
hardwood  growth,  as  I  have  observed  it  in  the  heart  of  the  Adirondacks, 
can  make  no  very  material  change  in  the  melting  of  the  snow  or  in  the 
rapidity  with  which  the  rainfall  reaches  the  river. 

In  these  particular  regions.  Nature  frowns  on  agriculture  and 
there  can  never  be  the  broad  denudation  and  change  into  bald  prairie 
that  we  find,  for  example,  in  the  Genesee  Valley,  and  the  more  of 
thrifty  hardy  farmers  in  the  mountains,  the  less  chance  that  forest 
fires  will  run  riot,  and  destroy  the  sponge-like  humus  which  it  may 
have  taken  hundreds  of  years  to  accumulate  and  which  promotes  the 
forest  growth. 

I  beg  you  not  to  misunderstand  me.  There  is  no  more  earnest 
lover  of  woods  than  I;  no  one  more  profoundly  appreciative  of  our 
new  national  forest  service,  for  I  have  seen  its  working  in  the  Sierras 
and  have  seen  the  need  of  something  like  it  in  many  places  elsewhere. 
I  would  rejoice  to  see  established  a  great  forest  reservation  in  the  White 
Mountains;  another  in  that  glorious  "land  of  the  sky"  extending 
northeast  from  Asheville  and  surrounding  Mt.  Mitchell,  monarch  of  the 
Southern  Appalachians;  and  I  rejoice  in  the  extension  of  the  grand 
Adirondack  park  so  well  begun  by  this  Empire  State,  and  in  a  hundred 
smaller  forest  preserves  like  those  so  wisely  established  by  Greater 
Boston  in  the  Middlesex  Fells  and  on  the  Blue  Hills  of  Milton;  but 
let  us  not  in  our  earnest  advocacy  make  claims  in  their  behalf  which 
do  not  rest  on  the  engineering  basis,  the  simple  truth. 

I  have  welcomed  the  recent  paper  by  Colonel  Chittenden*  on  this 

__  *  Transactions,  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.,  Vol.  LXII,  p.  245. 


THE   CONSERVATION   OF    WATER  9 

subject  before  the  American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers  for  its  timely 
words  on  the  obverse  of  this  question  of  forest  influence  upon  stream 
flow,  although  I  do  not  concur  in  all  his  views. 

One  frequent  error  has  come  from  a  failure  to  differentiate  between 
different  conditions  of  climate  and  porous  soil,  and  to  make  too  specific 
an  application  of  what  may  be  true  on  the  average.  The  statements 
regarding  the  Merrimack  and  the  Hudson  which  I  have  criticised  as 
without  foundation  in  fact  may  very  likely  be  true  of  some  drainage 
areas  in  a  more  arid  region. 

Forests,  Fires  and  Lumbermen,. — Time  does  not  permit  me  to  go 
into  this  subject  of  forest  influences  as  I  would  like,  but  from  the 
remarks  already  made  I  desire  to  draw  out  two  texts  and  say  a  little 
on  each. 

The  first  is  on  the  present  sinful  encouragement  of  forest  fires. 
I  spent  a  little  time  a  few  years  ago  in  what  is  i)erhaps  the  most 
magnificent  forest  in  the  world,  on  the  western  slope  of  the  Cascade 
Mountains  back  from  Seattle.  One  day  I  literally  climbed  through 
the  forest  primeval,  up  and  down  over  the  trunks  that  had  fallen,  some 
perhaps  a  century  before,  treading  much  of  the  time  on  a  deep  yielding 
cushion  of  green  moss  and  humus  that  it  may  have  taken  several 
centuries  to  accumulate.  Another  day  I  witnessed  the  new  methods 
of  lumbering  by  means  of  railroads  and  winding  engines  and  steel 
cables,  and  saw  the  waste  tree-tops  and  brushwood  left  in  such  loose 
disorder  as  to  invite  fire  when  the  sap  should  have  become  dried  out 
a  few  months  later.  Another  day,  and  by  night,  I  saw  fire  eating 
into  just  such  a  tract,  that  had  been  left  by  the  lumbermen  the  year 
before,  and  later  I  walked  over  the  mountainside  left  so  naked,  so 
rocky  and  so  sterile  as  a  result  of  this  fire,  that  it  seemed  that  another 
such  forest  on  this  ground  could  never  get  a  start.  Fortunately,  this 
area  thus  swept  was  not  very  large. 

A  lumberman  of  exceptionally  wide  experience  tells  me  that  he  has 
experimented  on  the  cost  of  lopping  down  and  piling  the  tops  and 
burning  them  under  supervision,  after  they  had  become  seasoned  and 
while  the  surrounding  ground  was  moist,  and  has  found  all  this  added 
only  about  25  to  50  cents  or,  in  some  cases,  Y5  cents  per  1  000  ft.  B.  M. 
to  the  cost  of  his  lumber  in  the  pineries  of  Minnesota.  In  a  brushy 
country  or  in  the  dense  woods  of  Washington  it  would  cost  much  more. 
The  question  is,  does  not  the  benefit  to  posterity  warrant  this  tax  ?  We 
ought  not  to  be  too  hasty  in  answering,  but  one  who  has  tramped  over 
a  recent  burn  will  be  inclined  to  say  "Yes,"  and  that  the  action  of  the 
lumbei*men  which  leads  time  and  again  to  this  result  should  be  made  a 
crime  with  penalties  that  would  deeply  touch  the  sensitive  pocket  nerve." 

Accuracy  of  Stream  Measurement. — The  second  of  the  suggestions, 
growing  out  of  my  previous  remarks,  is  a  plea  for  stream-flow  measure- 
ments of  greater  precision,  through   which  we  can  more   accurately 


10  THE    CONSERVATION    OF    WATER 

appraise  the  worth  of  waterfalls  and  reservoir  sites  for  development, 
and,  in  the  slow  course  of  time,  can  obtain  som.e  more  precise  knowl- 
edge of  the  effect  of  forests  upon  stream  flow. 

I  have  again  and  again  testified  to  the  utility  of  the  hydrographic 
work  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  and  so  I  will  hope  for  pardon 
in  pointing  to  places  where  it  could  be  made  more  useful  and  in  urging 
that  if  half  the  stations  were  abandoned  and  the  accuracy  and  pre- 
cision all  through  the  year  doubled  at  the  remaining  stations,  under 
some  keen  traveling  supervisory  engineers  who  could  teach  the  in- 
experienced hydraulicians,  whose  employment  is  compelled  by  the  im- 
portance of  covering  many  stations  with  a  scant  appropriation,  how  to 
measure  the  flow  in  the  ice  season,  how  to  set  traps  for  errors  of 
observation,  and  who  could  arouse  a  pride  in  completeness  and  pre- 
cision of  measurement,  while  the  central  office  is  putting  emphasis  on 
intensive  work  instead  of  nearly  all  its  emphasis  on  extensive  work; 
then,  after  a  while,  by  comparing  districts  of  similar  rainfall  and 
topography,  and  substrata,  wooded  and  unwooded,  or  before  and  after 
close  cutting,  we  could  get'  some  precise  information  on  forest 
influences. 

Eor  this  kind  of  work  we  must  rely  on  the  general  government,  and 
it  is  so  technical  and  has  to  be  so  painstaking  and  so  long-continued 
that  it  is  hard  to  make  congressmen  understand  its  worth.  I  have  had 
many  opportunities,  East  and  West,  for  coming  in  contact  with  the 
hydrographic  work  of  the  IT.  S.  Geological  Survey.  From  the  start 
it  has  been  carried  on  by  men  of  high  ideals,  trying,  under  scant 
appropriations,  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  hundreds  of  localities,  and  not- 
withstanding that  one  has  to  be  on  the  watch  for  errors,  their  records 
are  of  profound  value,  and  I  know  of  no  one  way  in  which  the  good 
cause  of  the  conservation  of  water  can  be  more  advanced  than  by 
helping  this  department  to  secure  from  Congress  an  appropriation  com- 
mensurate with  the  value  of  its  work  for  present  and  future,  and  then 
let  us  insist  on  it  giving  us  the  results  of  more  intensive  and  more 
precise  and  more  careful  work. 

Water-Power  Conservation. — The  conservation  of  water  for  power 
development  is  a  topic  on  which  I  am  expected  to  say  something.  My 
theme  is  in  a  field  of  more  cheerful  prospects  than  those  assigned  for 
this  evening  to  my  brothers,  who  have  to  contemplate  the  early  exhaus- 
tion of  the  world's  stores  of  coal  and  oil  and  iron,  for  the  hydraulic 
engineer  bids  fair  to  flourish  for  some  thousands  of  years  after  the 
builders  of  steam  engines  and  gas  engines  have  vanished  from  the  face 
of  the  earth. 

As  matters  stand  to-day  he  has  less  urgent  need  of  having  conserva- 
tion preached  him  than  those  who  work  with  other  sources  of  power.  His 
turbines  yield  85%  of  the  ideal,  and  there  is  small  hope  of  ever  attain- 
ing a  higher  per  cent,  of  useful  effect  than  Uriah  Boyden  obtained 


THE    CONSERVATION    OF    WATER  11 

sixty  years  ago  on  the  Atlantic  Mills  turbines  in  Lawrence.  The 
progress  since  that  day  has  been  chiefly  in  conserving  the  labor  of  the 
machinist  who  makes  the  turbine. 

Sixty-five  years  ago,  Storrow,  in  planning  the  power  development 
at  Lawrence,  Mass.,  conserved  the  full  measure  of  the  opportunity  in 
a  way  that  could  hardly  be  excelled  to-day.  But  Storrow  was  the  best 
educated  engineer  of  his  day,  and  Boyden  was  a  physicist  whose  insight 
and  skill  would  be  honored  in  any  of  our  modern  research  laboratories, 
and  these  works  were  pinnacles  of  achievement,  not  appreciated  or 
copied  broadly  through  the  land. 

Nevertheless,  the  chief  rivers  of  New  England,  through  plants  tliat 
were  mostly  designed  half  a  century  ago,  are  to-day  yielding  nearly  as 
much  power  as  they  could  yield  under  ideal  conditions,  and  they  pre- 
sent no  such  margin  for  improvement  as  is  presented  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  power  from  coal.  Here  and  there  are  a  few  opportunities  for 
larger  storage  of  flood  water,  or  for  storage  of  water  that  now  wastes 
over  the  dam  at  night,  and  in  a  few  of  the  older  plants  there  is  some 
needless  loss  of  head.  The  chief  error  of  design,  judged  by  standards 
of  to-day,  was  too  great  a  subdivision  of  the  fall.  Two  or  three  plants 
under  low  head  have  been  built  where  one  plant  under  a  high  head 
would  have  been  better,  and  too  great  subdivision  into  small  scattered 
units  has  been  made.  The  cost  suffered  more  than  the  efficiency.  It 
was  conservation  of  capital,  not  of  water,  which  failed. 

Turbine  Efficiency. — ^In  the  water-wheels  themselves  a  slow  process 
of  survival  of  the  fittest  has  long  been  going  on.  This  was  stimulated 
in  the  early  days  by  "The  Lowell  Hydraulic  Experiments,"  later  by 
tests  at  Holyoke,  and  in  recent  hydro-electric  times  it  has  been  further 
advanced  by  tests  under  working  conditions  in  which  the  power  has 
been  measured  by  the  electrical  apparatus.  Thus  it  happens  that 
to-day  the  country  grist  mill  can  buy  a  turbine  of  YO  or  75% 
average  efficiency  from  half  load  to  full  load,  made  chiefly  in  the 
foundry,  at  surprisingly  low  cost;  or  the  great  hydro-electric  plant 
can  readily  procure  a  specially  designed  5  000  or  10  000  kw.  unit 
that  will  run  close  to  the  theoretic  limit  of  efficiency. 

These  possibilities  are  not  always  taken  advantage  of.  The  builder 
of  the  stock  turbine  is  sometimes  more  sound  in  his  machine-shop  prac- 
tice than  in  his  hydraulics,  and  he  not  infrequently  throws  away  5  or 
10%  of  the  useful  effect  by  crowding  twin  wheels  toward  a  common 
draft  tube,  or  by  crudely  trimming  the  blades  of  the  runner  in  fitting 
a  stock  pattern  to  a  special  need,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  the  mill 
owner  has  no  means  for  measuring  within  a  margin  of  10%  error, 
either  the  second-feet  of  water  applied,  or  the  horse-power  derived, 
and  therefore  no  means  of  proving  the  turbine  efficiency  within  about 
20  per  cent.  Not  long  ago  I  made  tests  of  representative  units  in  a 
hydro-electric  plant  of  40  000  h.p.,  where  the  turbines  were  wasting 


12  THE   CONSERVATION   OF    WATER 

about  15%  of  the  power  of  the  water  through  faulty  design,  largely  due 
to  lack  of  adaptation  of  speed  of  revolution  to  the  existing  fall,  and  I 
have  seen  in  high-head  plants  of  the  Pelton  type,  on  the  Pacific  slope, 
a  grievous  waste  going  on,  due  partly  to  defects  in  adaptation  of  lay- 
out to  a  variable  load,  to  unnecessary  friction  of  water  in  the  conduits 
and  approaches  to  the  nozzle,  and  to  wasteful  methods  of  speed  regu- 
lation by  deflector  nozzles.  Such  conditions  are  not  the  rule  and  all 
these  matters  of  water-wheels  and  lay-out  of  plant  are  in  a  state  of 
active  evolution  and  their  full  measure  of  conservation  will  soon  be 
"secured. 

Inducements  for  Developing  Water-Poiuer. — Throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  this  land,  capital  has  commonly  been  ready,  and  some- 
times too  ready,  to  build  dams  and  put  in  turbines  wherever  there  was 
reasonable  expectation  of  an  ordinarily  good  rate  of  return. 

Until  the  marvelous   electrical   developments   of  the   past   ten   or 

fifteen  years,  great  water-power  developments  were   commonly  great 

disappointments  to  those  who  put  in  the  money.    At  Lawrence,  Mass., 

one  dividend  was  paid  on  expectations,  the  next  twelve  were  passed  on 

the  facts.    The  original  shareholders  at  Holyoke,  Mass.,  Lewiston,  Me., 

and  Cohoes,  N.  Y.,  lost  most  of  the  money  they  put  in.    Our  English 

friends  and  others  who  buried  their  millions  at  Massena,  N.  Y.,  would 

be  pained  to  relate  the  discount  at  which  they  sold  out,  and  there  are 

to-day  certain  magnificent  structures  languishing  half  built  on  the 

Susquehanna   and   the   Yadkin,   where   an   investor   with   some   spare 

millions  would  be  very  welcome.     More  than  one  street  railway  or 

factory  has  found  disappointment  in  the  variable  flow  of  a  river  and, 

after  liberal  expenditure,  has  come  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  trouble 

^  and  expense  of  providing  auxiliary  power. 

y  f^C~~I  mention  these  examples  because  I  have  noted  in  some  of  the  recent 

\       conservation  talk  an  idea  that  the  flow  of  almost  any  river  or  stream 

I       of  rapid  descent  could  be  easily  transmuted  into  a  never-ending  flow 

\^  of  gold. 

^^^^^^"^  Glowing  estimates,  some  of  them  from  the  government  officials, 
have  valued  undeveloped  horse-power  to  the  extent  of  millions  on 
millions  of  horse-power,  at  $20  per  horse-power,  which  is  about  the 
current  selling  price  for  electrical  power  in  the  given  locality  after  it 
has  been  developed  and  after  delivery  over  a  long  transmission  line, 
and  have  failed  to  remark  that  $100  per  horse-power,  or,  including 
transmission,  perhaps  $150  in  hard  cash  had  first  to  be  added  to  each  of 
these  resources  of  Nature  before  it  was  worth  anything  at  all,  and  that 
on  top  of  this  capital  account  there  must  be  added  operating  costs  and 
business  expenses. 

Also,  opportunities  for  vast  storage  reservoirs  have  been  tabulated, 
and  their  great  potential  value  pointed  out,  but  with  no  adequate  sug- 
gestion as_to  the  feasibility  or  cost  of  the  dams,  or  the  possibility  of 


THE   CONSERVATION   OF    WATER  13 

such  gradual  silting  up  of  storage  space  as  is  experienced  on  many- 
Southern  rivers.  The  same  glowing  accounts  fail  to  discover  what  use 
could  be  made  of  such  vast  amounts  of  power  in  these  remote  localities, 
and  they  utterly  ignore  questions  of  market  in  reckoning  value. 

Kidicule  and  distrust  are  the  proper  reward  for  those  who  put  forth 
these  unqualified  statements. 

True,  there  are  processes  coming  over  the  horizon  for  deriving  a 
stock  of  nitrogenous  fertilizer  from  the  air  by  means  of  hydro-electric 
power,  and  the  production  of  tool  steel,  perhaps  twice  as  good  as  the 
best  that  our  arts  yet  know,  from  the  electrical  furnace,  and  we  have 
foundations  for  a  faith  that  electro-chemistry  has  other  wonders  in 
store;  but  these  uses  are  yet  here  only  in  small  degree. 

Let  us  have  less  rhetoric  and  more  precise  engineering  investigation 
in  estimating  the  extent  and  value  of  these  great  resources. 

Practicable  Water-Power  Conservation  Methods. — The  Secretary 
of  one  of  our  National  Engineering  Societies  has  urged  that  in  this 
brief  talk  I  make  some  recommendations  for  action. 

The  plan  of  action  which  will  accomplish  more  good  in  water-power 
conservation  than  any  other  of  which  I  can  now  conceive  is  that  adopted 
by  New  York  State  two  years  ago  under  the  wise  initiative  of  Governor 
Hughes,  and  carried  out  by  the  State  Water  Supply  Commission.  Ac- 
cording to  this,  each  State  should  collect  the  facts  regarding  each  of 
the  notable  opportunities  for  power  development  within  its  borders, 
select  the  important  ones  for  survey  in  detail  after  careful  recon- 
naissance, prepare  an  outline  plan  for  each,  with  all  the  detail  that 
would  be  required  in  the  preliminary  studies  for  actual  development, 
with  full  estimates  of  cost  of  plant  and  of  amount  of  power  available 
in  different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  make  these  facts  all  matters  of 
permanent  public  record,  printed,  and  widely  distributed.  In  these 
surveys  the  conservation  idea  should  have  full  sway;  measuring  up 
the  full  engineering  opportunity,  with  dams  planned  at  the  highest 
level  and  tail  races  at  the  very  lowest  level  that  the  topography  will 
reasonably  permit,  and  with  storage  reservoirs  of  the  greatest  height 
and  area  for  which  Nature  has  provided  a  reasonable  location,  up  to 
the  full  measure  of  reasonable  flood  control. 

Every  noteworthy  opportunity  for  power  development  that  will  ever 
exist  within  the  State  can  thus  be  soon  placed  on  the  map,  and  there 
will  never  be  a  more  advantageous  time  than  the  present  thus  to  take 
account  of  stock,  so  that  present  owner,  promoter,  and  public  can  see 
just  what  degree  of  promise  there  is  in  each  opportunity. 

The  range  of  stream  flow,  in  summer  and  winter,  in  extreme  flood 
and  in  extreme  drought,  can  soon  be  made  a  matter  of  certainty  within 
narrow  limits,  and  can  be  confirmed  with  greater  precision  from  year  to 
year  by  a  system  of  daily  gaugings,  summer  and  winter,  definitely 
planned  in  the  beginning  to  cover  at  least  a  ten-year  period.     These 


14  THE    COXSERVATIOX    OF    WATEK 

estimates  of  stream  flow  can  be  best  secured  through  co-operation  with 
the  hydrographic  branch  of  the  National  Government,  providing  the 
qualities  of  precision,  accuracy  and  care  in  its  work,  particularly  in 
times  of  ice  obstruction  and  in  drought,  can  be  improved. 

The  State  can  perhaps  wisely  go  further  than  heretofore  and,  at. 
some  of  the  great  sites,  can  itself  construct  the  main  works,  much  as  the 
United  States  Eeclamation  Service  has  built  reservoirs  and  canals, 
or  it  can  mvite  private  capital,  through  the  removal  of  restrictive 
laws  like  those  which  now  forbid  storage  reservoirs  in  the  Adirondacks, 
or  by  laws  helpful  in  bringing  the  full  natural  opportunity  of  one 
proper  site  under  one  control,  like  the  "Mill  Acts"  and  "Flowage  Acts" 
of  some  of  the  States.  According  to  conditions  found,  the  State  may, 
in  one  case,  properly  levy  a  special  tax  on  the  power  produced,  or  in 
another  case  may  best  permit  exemption  from  local  taxation  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  in  view  of  the  limited  number  of  these  opportunities 
it  should  be  the  aim  of  the  State  to  safeg-uard  the  future  against  ex- 
tortion through  monopoly.  There  is  already  manifest  in  some  parts 
of  the  country  a  tendency,  under  the  new  conditions  of  electrical 
transmission,  for  all  of  the  power  companies  in  a  district  to  get  to- 
gether in  a  sort  of  trust,  and  this  may  be  followed  later  by  rates  not 
primarily  intended  to  foster  local  industry. 

The  State  Should  Foster  the  Local  Use  of  Water  Power  for  the 
Founding  of  New  Industrial  Communities. — ^By  far  the  most  beneficent 
policy  of  conservation  of  its  water  power  that  the  State  or  the  Nation 
can  adopt  is  one  which  will  tend  toward  this  power  being  devoted  to 
the  founding  of  industrial  communities,  and  that  kind  of  industry  is 
best  which  will  bring  the  greatest  population  per  horse-power  and  the 
most  highly  skilled  class  of  operatives. 

The  first  step  in  such  a  policy  of  conservation  is  an  accurate  in- 
ventory and  publication  regarding  each  undeveloped  or  scantily  de- 
veloped opportunity. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  unfortunate  early  history  of  large  water-power 
developments  in  this  country.  The  marvelous  development  of  electrical 
power  transmission  during  the  past  fifteen  years  has  greatly  changed 
the  conditions,  and  there  are  certain  aspects  of  the  case  not  wholly 
favorable  to  the  best  ultimate  development  of  the  country,  which  at 
least  should  be  considered. 

The  financial  troubles  that  came  to  the  early  developments  resulted 
from  lack  of  income  during  the  long  period  of  waiting  for  customers 
for  the  full  output.  A  fair  interest  return  on  a  10  000  h-p.  plant 
could  not  be  met  from  the  rentals  of  1  000  or  5  000  h.p.  To-day  electric 
transmission  reaches  out  and  markets  the  entire  output  immediately 
to  customers  now  deriving  their  power  from  coal,  and  in  many,  cases 
this  method  of  use  has  brought  quick  and  generous  profit,  particularly 
if  the  promoter  has  cut  out  the  tenderloin  and  left  the  rest  of  the 


THE    COXSERVATIOX    OF    WATER  15 

carcass  to  rot.  It  may  be  claimed  that  this  kind  of  use  has  helped  - 
to  conserve  our  Nation^s  coal  supply  and  so  is  in  line  with  the  policy 
of  conservation,  but  certainly  it  has  not  produced  employment  for 
more  people  and  has  not  built  up  communities  with  hundreds  and  thou- 
sands of  homes  as  did  the  older  water-power  developments  at  Lawrence, 
Nashua,  Holyoke,  Bellows  Falls,  and  a  score  of  other  thrifty  cities  that 
were  built  solely  because  of  a  water-power  development,  or,  as  has  been 
accomplished  at  the  many  thrifty  towns  built  up  in  recent  years  where 
the  Southern  Appalachian  rivers  break  over  the  edge  of  the  Piedmont 
Plateau. 

Electro-chemical  processes,  now  coming  along  fast,  are  destined 
to  absorb  cheap  power  in  unlimited  quantity,  and  these,  unlike  the 
machine  shop  or  cotton  mill  which  sets  one  operative  at  work  for  each 
1  or  2  h.p.,  may  set  at  ^work  only  one  operative  per  100  h.p. 

The  statesman  versed  in  political  economy  may  well  give  some 
thought  to  these  questions  of  power  conservation  in  their  broadest 
sense. 

Some  are  deploring  the  crowding  of  population  to  the  great  cities.  T     I 
Is  it  not  within  the  proper  scope  of  the  conservation  movement  for  the  \      \ 
State  to  encourage  not  only  the  maximum  development  of  each  oppor-  \ 

tunity,  but  also,  by  favorable  legislation,  to  encourage  its  use  in  such  j 

manner  as  shall  found  new  industrial  centers  and  provide  employment  / 

for  the  largest  number  possible?  — ^  y 

Some  Technical  Details. — Coming  down  from  these  larger  problems, 
there  are  many  technical  details  which  tend  to  the  conservation  of 
water,  which  it  would  be  interesting  to  discuss  with  this  audience  of 
engineers,  for  example,  the  use  of  the  "mass  curve"  or  summation 
hydrograph,  for  studying  the  possibilities  of  various  reservoir  volumes 
in  conserving  the  flow  of  the  flood  season.  Something  might  well  be 
said  about  the  use  of  the  surge  tank  on  long  turbine  feeder  pipes,  for 
conserving  water  now  wasted  in  speed  control,  and  which  permits  the 
pressure  tunnel  with  all  its  advantages  in  place  of  the  open  canal;  we 
should  discuss  also  the  application  of  steam  heat  to  the  turbine,  and 
the  electrical  warming  of  forebay  screens,  for  conserving  the  output  of 
power  during  the  run  of  anchor  ice  on  rivers  in  the  extreme  north; 
and  we  would  do  well  to  discuss  means  for  the  encouragement  of  con- 
tour plowing  and  planting  by  the  farmers  in  those  regions  where  storage 
reservoirs  are  prone  to  silt  up. 

There  are  plenty  of  water-power  topics  which,  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  conservation,  might  furnish  interesting  discussion  for 
several  evenings,  and  on  the  one  important  topic  of  relation  of  forests 
to  conserving  stream  flow  under  different  climatic  conditions,  the  dis- 
cussion is  far  from  being  all  in.    But  I  must  hurry  on. 

Conservation  of  the  Purity  of  Watercourses. — This,  like  the  rela- 
tion of  timber  cutting  to  stream  flow%  is  a  subject  on  which  it  is  time 


16  THE   CONSERVATION   OF    WATER 

for  the  engineer  to  interpose  a  word  of  caution  in  regard  to  some  of 
til  the  well-meant  talk  that  has  been  expended  on  this  subject,  which  in 
j\;i\  conserving  water  seems  to  disregard  completely  the  counterbalancing 
[   I  y  idea  of  conservation  of  capital. 

It  is  of  first  importance  to  arrive  at  a  good  sense  of  proportion  in 
this  matter,  and  to  find,  for  various  conditions,  just  what  should  be 
regarded  as  pollution,  and  it  is  important  in  following  ideals  not  to 
take  leave  of  common  sense. 

The  true  criterion  plainly  is  that  no  refuse  should  be  discharged 
into  a  stream,  which  can  do  harm  or  cause  offense  in  any  important 
degree.  It  involves  economic  waste  to  set  up  standards  of  such  purity 
as  is  needed  for  drinlcing  water  upon  streams  that  can  be  given  their 
greatest  use  as  drainage  channels. 

Flowing  water,  and  quiet  water  in  greater  degree,  have  the  power 
of  digesting  and  rendering  harmless  very  considerable  quantities  of 
street  wash,  and  even  of  sewage,  somewhat  as  the  soil  of  our  gardens 
renders  harmless  the  manure  applied,  and,  within  limits,  it  is  reason- 
able and  proper  to  utilize  the  rivers  as  carriers  or  disposal  agents 
and  thereby  conserve  the  funds  which  some  small  community  can 
spend  to  its  betterment  in  other  ways.  Some  industrial  wastes  are 
thus  digestible;  others,  like  liquor  from  gas-works,  are  not.  Some, 
if  first  subjected  to  a  rough  straining,  or  to  brief  detention  favorable 
for  bacterial  action,  may,  under  scientific  oversight,  be  safely  dis- 
charged into  the  natural  drainage  channels  of  the  region.  Others, 
like  the  washings  from  wool  scourings,  if  in  too  large  proportion  will 
foul  a  watercourse  most  offensively,  or,  if  it  is  discharged  into  a  stream 
that  soon  mingles  with  the  salt  water  of  the  sea,  may  become  precipi- 
tated and  cover  the  bottom  with  a  filthy  slime. 

The  true  problem  of  conservation  is  to  study  faithfully  and 
patiently  the  needs  of  individual  cases  in  the  light  of  modern  science, 
and  learn  how  and  to  what  extent  the  desired  disposal  can  be  carried 
on  without  harm  or  offense. 

The  engineer  is  year  by  year  coming  into  a  more  important  rela- 
tion to  the  public  as  its  trusted  guide  on  some  of  its  larger  matters 
of  welfare,  and  in  order  to  maintain  this  confidence  and  gain  still 
greater  opportunity  for  doing  good,  he  must  not  join  in  the  shouting 
r^  until  he  has  studied  into  the  merits  of  both  sides  of  the  case  and  must 
I^Jhen  be  steadfast  to  common  sense  and  to  the  truth. 

Conservation  for  Irrigation. — On  this  subject  I  have  only  time  to 
say  that  no  grander  example  of  the  conservation  idea  can  be  found  than 
in  the  steadfast  work  of  the  past  eight  years  of  the  U.  S.  Keclama- 
tion  Service.  Grand  in  conception,  scientific  in  plan,  faithful  in 
execution,  the  world  may, be  challenged  to  show  public  service  of  a 
higher  order. 

Recognition  should  be  given  also  to  the  work  of  their  contemporaries 


THE   CONSERVATION   OF    WATER  17 

of  the  State  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  in  showing  how  water 
saved  from  floods  can  be  most  wisely  expended,  and  how  one  acre-foot, 
or  less,  of  water  can  do  the  work  formerly  done  by  two.  The  recent 
call  from  Australia  to  our  fellow  member,  Mr.  Elwood  Mead,  to  come 
over  and  help  them,  is  a  worthy  tribute  to  the  high  standards  that  this 
branch  of  conservation  has  attained  in  our  land. 

How  remarkable  the  progress  of  the  past  ten  years !  And  how  full 
of  significance  is  the  change  to  the  community  of  interest  idea  and  the 
development  away  from  the  wasteful  methods  and  individual  efforts 
of  the  early  settler,  who  in  many  cases  spoiled  the  chance  for  some- 
thing better  by  his  crudeness  of  lay-out,  or  rendered  ground  soggy  by 
appropriating  more  water  than  his  need,  or,  from  lack  of  storage,  was 
without  reserve  for  the  days  when  the  crop  needed  it  most. 

We  have  passed  pretty  nearly  through  the  days  of  unwarrantable 
promotions,  of  ditches  and  farms  laid  out  on  a  scale  for  which  water 
could  be  furnished  less  than  one  year  in  three,  and  of  non-resident 
ownership  in  the  reservoir  and  canal,  and  have  arrived  at  the  much 
better  economic  conditions  of  companies  in  which  every  shareholder 
farms  his  own  ground.  One  development  is  following  another  so  fast 
that  irrigation  bids  fair  to  become  within  the  next  decade  almost  one 
of  the  exact  sciences,  and  the  spirit  of  progress  and  the  idea  of  con- 
servation of  water  are  now  so  active  in  the  field  of  irrigation  that  the 
call  for  missionaries  is  not  loud. 

It  has,  however,  been  suggested  to  me  by  one  of  my  most  active 
biological  friends  that  there  are  inviting  fields  for  experiment  on  the 
benefits  of  irrigation,  much  nearer  than  Colorado  and  California,  and 
that  the  New  Englander  who  has  a  field  and  a  brook  in  proper 
topographic  relation  may  find  in  orchard  fruit  and  other  intensive 
farming  some  surprising  successes  as  a  result  of  the  conservation  of 
this  water  in  irrigation. 

Navigation. — What  is  done  to  conserve  water-power  will,  in  general, 
tend  to  conserve  navigation. 

That  there  are  grand  opportunities  for  inland  navigation  in  this 
broad  land  of  ours,  and  that  they  will  some  day  have  an  important 
part  in  our  prosperity,  with  increasing  density  of  population,  must  be 
plain  to  any  one  who  has  journyed  down  the  Rhine  and  has  seen  it 
crowded  with  steamboats  and  barges,  while  railroads  were  busy  on 
both  shores. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  to  the  Florida  Keys,  Nature  has 
prepared  the  outlines  of  an  inshore  waterway  which  is  little  under- 
stood by  those  who  have  not  cruised  over  some  part  of  its  waters.  In 
this,  boats  may  some  day  safely  ply,  sheltered  from  the  storms  of  the 
Atlantic,  and  serve  a  region  prolific  in  cotton  and  food  supplies. 

That  the  Mississippi  and  its  branches  will  some  day  again  form 
great  highways  of  commerce  must  be  believed  by  those  who  are  study- 


18  THE    OOXSERVATION    OF    WATER 

ing  the  signs  of  the  times.  A  ship  canal  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the 
Hudson  probably  by  way  of  Oswego  will  plainly  be  a  demand  of  the 
future,  and  the  true  conservation  of  Niagara  will  be  found  in  diverting 
much  of  the  American  half  of  this  water  into  a  great  canal  leading  to 
ship  locks  and  a  great  power  plant  at  the  bluff  at  Lewiston,  by  which 
the  full  300  ft.  of  its  fall  will  be  utilized  instead  of  as  in  the  wasteful 
developments  of  the  plants  of  to-day,  in  which  only  a  fraction  of  this 
fall  is  of  beneficial  use. 

The  future  is  full  of  great  problems  for  the  engineer  upon  these 
developments,  and  some  of  them  are  already  up  to  us,  lest  obstructions 
be  cultivated  in  the  path  of  future  progress. 

Scenery. — The  remaining  use  of  water  needing  conservation,  among 
those  which  I  have  mentioned,  is  for  purposes  of  scenery.  In  a 
majority  of  cases  both  power  development  and  improvements  in'  river 
navigation  will  tend  to  add  to  and  conserve  the  scenic  value  of  the 
water. 

I  have  so  little  time  left  that  I  will  only  venture  to  call  attention 
to  some  of  the  instances  in  which  these  values  are  combined,  and 
which  are  so  local,  and  present  a  navigation  of  such  minor  character, 
that  they  would  be  likely  to  fail  of  the  proper  recognition  were  they 
presented  with  the  great  National  problems  of  waterway  improvement. 
Nevertheless  they  are  important  for  their  suggestion  of  other  oppor- 
tunities for  similar  beneficent  work. 

One  example  is  the  beautiful  Alster  Basin  at  Hamburg,  Germany, 
where  a  small  dam  transformed  a  broad  marsh  and  shallow  pool,  with 
a  small  stream  flowing  through  it,  into  a  beautiful  lake  around  which 
the  best  part  of  the  city  has  grown  up,  and  which  serves  the  useful 
purpose  of  pleasure  boating  most  admirably.  This  basin  disproves  the 
popular  notion  about  stagnant  water,  for,  although  the  flow  through 
it  is  small,  the  quality  of  the  water,  which  is  of  rather  forbidding 
appearance  at  the  entrance,  steadily  improves  in  the  storage.  The 
other  example  is  a  copy  of  the  Alster  now  nearing  completion  on  the 
tidal  estuary  between  Boston  and  Cambridge,  which  will  cover  the  un- 
sightly mud  banks  heretofore  laid  bare  at  low  tide. 

Humbler  examples,  but  also  useful  to  the  populous  regions  that  they 
serve  for  pleasure  boating,  are  the  long  slack-water  basin  near  Eiver- 
side,  Mass.,  formed  by  the  Waltham  Dam,  and  the  water  parkway  now 
under  construction  in  the  Metropolitan  district  north  of  Boston,  a 
route  for  pleasure  boats  and  canoes,  which  is  to  connect  a  chain  of 
lakes  and  bays  and  at  the  same  time  serve  as  the  drainage  channel  of  a 
great   sanitary   improvement. 

Clearing  Power  Reservoir  Sites. — While  the  scenic  value  of  water 
has  received  too  scant  attention  in  the  work  of  the  engineer,  it  is  at 
the  hands  of  the  lumbermen  and  the  early  mill  builders  that  it  has 
suffered  most.    The  dismal  swamps,  and  the  ghostly  ruins  of  trees  that 


THE    COXSERVATIOX    OF    WATER  19 

were  killed  by  dam  building  in  the  Adirondacks  and  in  Northern 
Maine,  have  made  such  raw  spots  in  the  memories  of  those  of  us  who 
love  the  forest  and  its  lakes  that  we  sympathize  wdth  the  purpose  of 
the  constitutional  restrictions  which  this  State  of  New  York  has  inter- 
posed against  the  flooding  of  its  forest  lands  by  storage  reservoirs. 

The  same  object,  however,  can  be  attained  in  a  better  way  by 
reasonable  laws  and  restrictions  governing  the  clearing  of  lands  that 
are  to  be  flowed  and  limiting  the  elevation  below  which  the  lake  to  be 
created  shall  not  be  drained,  and  one  of  the  taxes  that  any  State  may 
rightly  impose  upon  water-power  development  is  the  proper  clearing  of 
lands  to  be  flowed  for  storage  reservoirs  and  a  limitation  as  to  the 
extent  to  which  the  bed  of  such  reservoirs  may  be  uncovered. 

A  rigid  standard  may  well  be  set.  Stumps  should  not  be  left  to  pro- 
trude or  to  wreck  boats  as  the  water  is  lowered,  and  the  clearing  to  a 
contour,  say,  2  or  3  ft.  above  and  10  to  20  ft.  outside  the  highest  flow 
line  will  seldom  impose  a  burden  that  the  storage  benefits  cannot 
reasonably  bear. 

An  artificial  storage  lake  will  be  commonly  found  to  be  a  more 
beautiful  and  more  wholesome  feature  in  the  landscape  than  a  swamp, 
and,  in  most  of  our  Northern  regions  where  these  would  be  built,  the 
wave  action  will  soon  prepare  a  sandy  beach  along  much  of  the  shore 
line  of  the  broader  portions. 


THE  CONSERVATION  OF  NATURAL  RESOURCES 
BY  LEGISLATION. 

R.  W.  Raymond,  M.  Am.  Inst.  M.  E. 

The  recent  general  awakening  of  public  interest  in  the  conserva- 
tion of  national  resources  is  an  event  for  which,  as  engineers,  we  may 
ell  be  grateful.  Even  if  we  admit,  as  I  suppose  we  must,  that  a  part 
of  it  is  artificial  and  another  part  erroneous  or  premature,  and  that 
some  of  the  immediate  purposes  for  which  many  have  proposed  to 
utilize  it  are  questionable  in  character,  the  fact  remains  that  a  subject, 
to  some  aspects  of  which  engineers  have  been  for  a  generation  calling 
attention  in  vain,  is  now  suddenly  brought  forward  in  such  a  way 
that  the  sluggish  sit  up  and  listen,  and  the  tremendous  energy  of 
public  opinion  is  liberated  by  a  swift  reaction.  How  this  energy  shall 
be  wisely  directed  is  another  question.  The  fundamental  fact  is,  that 
without  it  nothing  at  all  could  be  done;  and  it  is  better  to  have  the 
will  and  the  power,  even  to  make  mistakes,  than  to  remain  in  sleep, 
knowing  nothing,  or  in  paralysis,  knowing  much,  but  impotent  to  act. 
"P*^"  The  official  movement  for  the  conservation  of  national  resources 
'did  not,  at  first,  contemplate  the  aid  of  the  engineers  of  the  country. 
I  If  I  remember  correctly,  it  was  to  be  a  convention  of  Governors  and 
members  of  Congress.  But,  by  a  happy  afterthought,  the  four  national 
engineering  societies  were  invited  to  take  part  in  this  convention,  and, 
consequently,  representatives  from  all  of  them  were  present.  Their 
p"f"esence  had  little  effect  upon  the  conference,  and,  indeed,  the  confer- 
ence itself  had  little  effect,  except  through  the  creation  of  a  more 
permanent  commission;  the  practical,  though  informal,  commitment 
of  the  Governors  of  the  States  to  the  general  movement  contemplated; 
and  the  impression  of  a  grand,  unanimous  advance  in  a  new  reform 
thereby  produced  upon  the  public  mind.  These  results,  however,  were 
of  incalculable  importance,  and  may  well  be  regarded  as  satisfactory 
to  the  friends  of  the  general  cause  thus  inaugurated. 

Concerning  the  attempt  to  utihze  the  results  of  this  conference 
in  support  of  certain  measures  in  Congress,  nothing  need  be  said 
here.  Such  arguments  were  fair  enough,  to  the  extent  of  their  real 
bearing,  but  they  could  not  be  conclusive  as  to  questions  involving 
grave  considerations  of  constitutional  power  or  political  wisdom.  It  is 
not  enough,  under  our  institutions,  to  prove  that  a  thing  is  a  good 
thing  and  ought  to  be  done,  in  order  to  establish  the  proposition  that 
it  should  be  done  in  a  hurry,  or  in  a  certain  way,  or  by  doubtful  means. 


l^.fyCUy<\ 


CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  21 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  all-important  question  of  conservation  should  be 
complicated  at  this  early  stage  with  measures  of  Federal  legislation; 
but  if  that  is  necessary  to  secure  discussion  in  the  newspapers,  and 
thus  continue  the  interest  and  increase  the  intelligent  comprehension 
of  the  public,  the  price  is,  perhaps,  not  too  great. 

In  this  somewhat  confused  condition  of  an  important  movement,  to 
which  our  engineering  societies  are  sympathetically  committed,  what 
can  we  do  as  engineers  to  help,  and  not  unnecessarily  to  hinder,  the 
good  work?  Certainly,  we  ought  to  be  able  to  do  something  useful; 
for  the  subject  is  one  with  which  engineers  as  a  class  have  been  busy 
always.  Much  of  the  recent  eloquence  concerning  it  is  merely  the"^^ 
revival  of  what  engineers  have  been  saying  for  a  generation;  and  their 
experience  qualifies  them  to  measure  actual  conditions  and  point  out 
actual  perils  with  special  authority.  ^ '      '>'       ' 

I.    What  Is  True  Conservation? 

True  conservation  lies  in  the  diminution,  not  of  use,  but  of  waste.  v\/sy^,y^s,/^ 

The  ingenious  suggestion  of  John  Mitchell,  at  the  first  Washington*\  \ 
Conference,   that   anthracite   coal   should   be   "conserved"   by   paying    ' 
higher  wages  to  the  miners,  so  that  anthracite  would  be  dearer  and    \ 
people  would  use  less  of  it,  was  the  notion,  not  of  an  engineer,  but  of    t' 
a  certain  kind  of  political  economist.    The  natural  diminution  of  con^^  ^ 
sumption  due  to  the  decreasing  supply  and  consequent  higher  price  of 
a  given  product  is  a  result  of  free  industrial  competition,  and  cannot 
be  wisely  forestalled  by  any  artificial  means. 

It  would  be  quite  as  rational  and  more  practicable  to  delay  the    1 
exhaustion  of  supplies   by  restricting  the   increase  of  population— a   f 
measure  of  legislation  which  has  not  been  seriously  proposed  of  lateT^ 
The  fact  is,  that  no  legislation  in  either  direction  is  called  for.     As 
regards  the  mineral  resources  of  the  United  States,  it  may  be  confi- 
dently declared  that  the  error  of  our  pioneer  miners  and  metallurgists 
was  not  that  they  worked  prematurely  and  imperfectly,  but  that  they 
too  often  left  their  low-grade  ores,  slags,  and  tailings  in  such  positions 
as  to  be  unavailable  for  re-treatment  by  their  successors.    But  no  legis- 
lation (even  if  the  legislators  had  been  wiser  than  the  engineers)  could 
have  remedied  this  evil  half  as  quickly  or  thoroughly  as  it  has  been 
remedied  without  any  legislation  at  all.     For  the  trouble  was  simply 
lack.jo£4Hiowledge.     The  moment  the  mine  operator  realized  that  his 
tailings  were  a  part  of  his  assets,  to  be  turned  into  money  at  once,  v  ; 
either  by  himself  or  by  a  lessee,  or  by  sale  to  a  speculative  purchaser    ' 
with   an   eye   on   approaching   improved   conditions,   that  moment   he 
began  to  preserve  and  protect  them.* 

*  See  under  this  head  the  timely  papers  of  Dr.  James  Douglas  and  John  Birkinbine. 
Past-Presidents  of  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  read  at  the  recent  New 
Haven  meeting. 


22  COXSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

Another  illustration  is  furnished  by  timber  conservation.  Until 
within  a  few  years  the  practice  of  forestry  in  our  Eastern  States  by 
owners  of  small  tracts  and  limited  capital  was  impossible,  because 
timber-land  which  was  not  within,  say,  five  years  of  being  ready  for 
the  axe  would  not  command  a  greater  price  than  cleared  land.  Regard- 
ing the  forest  as  a  crop  which  could  be  fully  reaped  in  from  thirty  to 
fifty  years,  there  was  no  market-value  for  this  crop  at  an  early  stage. 
The  cost  of  planting,  nurture,  and  protection  of  the  first  ten,  and 
most  critical,  years,  could  not  be  recovered  by  sale  of  the  land  through 
a  corresponding  increase  in  price.  Being  connected  for  some  twenty 
years  with  the  administration  of  large  tracts  of  timber-land  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  Jersey,  I  satisfied  myself  that,  under  favorable  condi- 
tions, the  investment  required  for  replanting,  training,  protecting 
against  fire,  etc.,  for,  say,  forty  years,  would  be  returned,  at  the  end 
of  that  period,  with  a  profit  of  from  3  to  4  per  cent,  per  annum.  But 
this  small  deferred  profit  would  not  tempt  even  a  philanthropist, 
especially  since  the  larger  part  of  the  investment  would  be  totally  lost, 
if  for  any  reason  it  became  necessary  to  sell  the  land  before  the  crop 
was  nearly  ripe.  Legislation  would  not  have- altered  the  situation;  but 
something  else  has  altered  it — namely,  the  gradual  increase  in  the 
market-value  of  the  timber,  and  the  corresponding  perception  of  its 
value  when  only  half-grown.  Before  long  a  tree-planted  area  in  this 
country  will  advance  year  by  year  in  cash  value,  in  proportion  to  the 
money  that  has  been  spent  upon  it,  and  the  condition  of  its  growing 
crop.  This  will  make  forestry  possible,  and  we  shall  have  no  more 
cause  to  fear  the  exhaustion  of  lumber  than  of  corn.  Meanwhile,  with 
regard  to  our  forest  resources,  even  more  than  as  to  our  mineral 
resources,  it  is  waste  rather  than  use  that  needs  to  be  prevented;  and 
the  simple,  adequate  remedies  are  the  pressure  of  economic  conditions 
and  the  diffusion  of  knowledge. 

II.    What  Is  the  Best  Method  for  the  Prevention 
OF  Waste? 

In  my  judgment,  the  progressive  education  of  the  people  and  the 
steady  pressure  of  economic  conditions  will  effect  this  result,  as  a 
general  rule,  better  than  any  legislation  can  do  it. 

The  "debris  decisions"  in  California,  the  many  lawsuits  regarding 
the  damages  wrought  by  furnace-fumes,  and  sundry  other  proceedings 
of  that  class,  are  not  exceptions  to  this  general  rule,  but  instances  of 
the  application  of  the  simple  old  common-law  principle,  that  no  man 
shall  use  his  own  to  injure  another's.  The  wrong  may  be  remedied 
in  law  by  a  judgment  for  damages,  or  in  equity  by  a  judicial  prohibi- 
tion. In  either  case,  it  involves  no  attempt  to  restrain  individual 
freedom  by  legislation  in  the  interest  of  economy,  science  or  progress. 


COXSEKVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  23 

Moreover,  there  is  a  large  body  of  Federal  legislation  which  does 
not  form  a  clear  exception  to  the  rule  stated  above.  I  refer  to  the 
laws  concerning  the  public  lands.  /Of  these  lands,  the  Federal  Govern- 
nieirds  both  the 'sovereign  and  the  owner,  and  it  may  and  should  do 
many  things  as  owner,  which  it  would  not  be  right  or  wise  to  do  as 
sovereign.  It  may  regulate  or  forbid  the  consumption  of  the  resources 
of  its  own  lands;  it  may  give  them  away,  or  lease  them,  or  sell  them, 
or  work  them  on  its  own  account,  or  simply  hoard  them,  as  a  method 
of  conservation.  Some  of  these  things  might  be  foolish,  but  they  are 
all  permissible,  so  long  as  they  do  not  interfere  with  vested  rights 
and  contracts.*  j 

The  manned  in  which  our  Federal  and  State  governments  have 
dealt  with  the  natural  resources  over  which  they  exercise  not  only 
sovereignty  but  also  common-law  ownership,  may  be  supposed  to  give 
us  some  indications  of  their  qualifications  to  exercise  the  larger  powers 
which  some  are  now  urging  us  to  confer  upon  them.  This  point  will 
be  considered  below.  For  the  present,  I  confine  myself  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  part  which  governments  play  in  the  application  of  that 
remedy  for  waste  of  natural  resources  which  I  have  characterized  as 
the  most  effective.  Without  arguing  as  to  the  proper  limitation  of 
the  functions  of  government,  or  pronouncing  upon  the  validity  of  the 
ingenious  distinction  announced  by  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  between  a 
"paternal"  government  (which  is  traditionally  a  bad  thing),  and  a 
"fraternal"  government,  which  is  a  good  thing,  I  may  admit  frankly 
that  of  all  the  extra-governmental  functions  the  education  of  the 
people  by  the  spread  of  inlorma'tibn " is'th'e  most  beneficial,  the  mosl~ 
potenET  and  tHe"  least  objectionable.  Yet  it  is  a  mighty  power,  the 
exercise  of  which,  under  a  representative  democracy  like  ours,  needs 
to  be  watched.  For  "government  information"  is  clothed  to  the  public 
eye  with  a  special  authority,  which  it  ought  to  deserve. 

III.    How  Should  the  Government  Information  Here  Under  Con- 
sideration BE  Prepared,  Framed,  and  Distributed? 

I  may  mention  under  this  head  the  following  propositions,  on  which 
I  think  we,  as  engineers,  ought  to  insist:    Such  information  ought  to     ^ 
be:  (1)  collectedjwith  care,  and  notjn  a  hurry;  (2)  stated_w^ithout  bias  ^, 
or  argument  in  favor  of  this  or  that  measure  or  policy ;  and  (3)  made 
accessible  to  all  who  desire  it — not  by  the  wasteful  and  inadequate 

*  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  prohibits  the  impairment  of  the  sacredness  of 
a  contract  by  any  State,  There  is  no  such  prohibition  as  to  Congfess;  and  there  has  been 
of  late  a  tendency  in  some  quarters  to  argue  that  Congress  may  therefore  do  what  it 
chooses  to  a  contract.  But  the  general  course  of  our  Supreme  Court  and  the  sentiment  of 
the  American  people— which  I  believe  to  be  still  substantially  sound  in  this  respect— war- 
rant the  view  that  the  wrong  constitutionally  forbidden  to  an  individual  State  cannot 
justly  be  perpetrated  by  the  Federal  Government. 


24  COXSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

system  of  giving  to  members  of  Congress  so  many  copies  per  capita, 
but  by^printing,  iir"Sirccessive  editions;  tf  "need  l)e7  as  many  copies  as 
individual  citizens  are  ready  to  buy  at  cost. 

In  all  these  respects,  the  masterly  reports  of  the  U.  S.  Geological 
Survey,  including  those  on  Mineral  Resources,  furnish  models  for 
imitation,  and  (if  I  am  correctly  informed)  the  forthcoming  report 
of  the  National  Conservation  Commission  is  likely  to  be  open  to 
criticism.  It  will  be  a  volume  of  1  000  pages,  prepared  under  Executive 
"hurry-orders"  (for  no  other  conceivable  reason  than  that  it  might  be 
transmitted  to  Congress  with  a  special  message  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  before 
he  left  the  White  House)  by  employees  of  the  government  already 
presumably  loaded  with  the  regular  work  pertaining  to  their  positions. 
The  contributions  of  many  of  these  experts,  even  under  these  unfavor- 
able conditions,  are  likely  to  make  the  book  highly  interesting  and 
valuable  to  engineers;  yet  it  is  uncertain  whether  copies  of  it  will  be 
obtainable,  except  by  favor.  This  is  an  unfortunate  beginning,  which 
may,  however,  be  forgiven  if  good  results  follow  it. 

While  I  would  not  be  guilty  of  the  injustice  of  criticizing  in 
advance  the  contents  of  a  book  which  I  have  not  seen,  it  is  not 
unfair  to  criticize  the  use  that  has  been  made  of  it  before  publication 
in  more  or  less  "inspired"  summaries  and  intimations  which,  taken 
together  with  the  Executive  directions  under  which  it  was  compiled, 
give  the  decided  impression  that  it  professes  to  be  an  inventory  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  United  States,  with  an  estimate  of  the  rate  at 
which  they  are  approaching  exhaustion.  If  this  be  the  case,  then  the 
task  imposed  upon  the  Commission  and  its  agents  is  one  which  could 
not  be  thoroughly  or  even  tolerably  performed  in  so  short  a  period. 
And  we  may  fear  as  a  result  that  the  report  of  the  Commission  will 
present  macyjcru^^e  and  hasty  "estimates,"  possibly  rendered  still  more 
misleading  by  tabulation  and  graphic  presentation,  and  the  construc- 
tions of  "curves,"  to  be  regarded  as  expressions  of  "laws."  And  there 
are  some  premonitions  of  an  attempt  to  shock  the  public,  and  through 
the  public,  to  startle  Congress  into  immediate  legislation,  by  "scare" 
head-lines,  announcing  that  the  supply  of  this  or  that  material  will  be 
exhausted  in  so  or  so  many  years — ^the  qualifying  sub-title  in  small 
type,  under  the  head-line,  being,  "If  the  present  rate  of  increase  in 
consumption  be  maintained"!  Now,  this  is  the  one  condition  which 
will  not  be  maintained,  whatever  happens;  and  people  will  not  be 
scared  by  that  argument.  What  is  worse,  they  are  likely,  in  their 
disgust,  to  refuse  serious  consideration  of  the  really  serious  situation. 
I  have  heard  of  a  man  whose  burglar-alarm  roused  him  so  many  times 
by  false  warnings,  that  when  at  last  it  really  rang  for  burglars,  he 
put  out  his  hand,  shut  off  the  current,  silenced  the  bell,  and  turned 
over  to  sleep  again,  murmuring  complacently:  "You  don't  catch  me 
this  time!" 


CONSERVATION"  BY  LEGISLATION  25 

And  in  this  connection,  I  may  add  that  when  statistics  are  presented 
to  support  requests  for  special  legislation,  especially  for  the  increase  of 
executive  power,  they  are  doubly  exposed  to  (perhaps  undeserved)  dis- 
credit *  At  all  events,  the  mistaken  use  of  such  data  is  to  be  lamented 
as  leading  to  a  reaction  that  may  go  beyond  the  immediate  case. 

Undoubtedly  we  can,  as  engineers,  render  most  useful  service  by 
freely  scrutinizing  and  criticizing  the  figures  upon  which  all  proposi- 
tions of  reform,  private  or  public,  are  professedly  based.  Others  will 
always  furnish  the  motive  power  of  eloquence  and  enthusiasm.  It 
should  be  our  business  to  test  the  machinery  and  hold  the  rudder. 

IV.    The  Dangers  of  Legislative  Conservation. 

These  dangers  are  present  in  both  State  and  Federal  spheres,  but 
they  are  greater  in  the  latter,  first,  because  the  possible  harm  is  more 
wide-spread;  secondly,  because  the  reform  of  any  evils  experienced  is 
more  difficult.  Illustrations  drawn  from  State  action  may  therefore 
be  regarded  as  bearing  with  double  force  upon  Federal  action. 

1.     Hasty  Legislation. 

The  first  peril  to  be  named  is  that  of  hasty  and  ill-considered  action, 
taken  under  the  influence  of  an  ignorant  though  well-meaning  public 
sentiment,  roused  or  guided,  in  too  many  instances,  by  selfish  interests. 

a. — The  history  of  forestry  in  the  State  of  New  York  furnishes  a 
striking  case  in  point.  Sentimentalists  who  had  gone  no  further  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  subject  than  "Woodman,  spare  that  tree!"  and 
conceived  of  no  more  effective  reform  than  a  universal  observation  by 
the  public  schools  of  "Arbor-Day,"  were  persuaded  in  the  name  of 
"Conservation"  to  carry  into  our  new  Constitution,  with  a  rush  and 
whoop  of  victorious  virtue,  a  provision  absolutely  prohibiting  all 
cutting  of  timber — that  is,  any  exercise  of  forestry  whatever — upon  the  I 
Forest  Reserve  of  the  State.  At  the  same  time,  large  sums  were  spent 
in  the  purchase  of  wild  lands,  to  be  added  to  the  Forest  Reserve — that 
is,  to  increase  the  area  of  State  lands  thus  doomed  to  useless  and 
mischievous  decay.  The  constitutional  prohibition  was  adopted  by  the 
Constitutional  Convention  against  the  urgent  protest  of  the  American 
Forestry  Association,  and  was  carried  at  the  polls,  with  the  rest  of  the 
Constitution,  by  the  votes  of  those  who  assumed  it  to  be  all  right, 
because  it  sounded  so  wise  and  patriotic.  Moreover,  there  were  amateur 
foresters  in  plenty,  who  learnedly  expounded  an  "American"  system, 

*  See  for  an  illustration  the  paper  of  Lt.-Ool.  H.  M.  Chittenden,  Corps  of  Engineers.  U 
S.  A.,  on  ''Forests  and  Reservoirs  in  Their  Relation  to  Stream  Flow,  with  Particular 
Reference  to  Navigable  Rivers,"  Transactions^  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.,  Vol.  LXII.  p.  245.  In  this 
paper  the  author  deals  incidentally  with  the  theory  that  the  cutting  of  forests  affects  un- 
favorably the  navigability  of  rivers— on  which  theory  Congress  has  been  recently  asked  so  |/| 
to  construe  the  Constitution  as  to  extend  the  Federal  authority  over  forests  not  on  the  \ 
public  domain.  ) 


1 1  w 


26  CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

pursued  by  Nature,  who  would  take  care  of  her  own  forests,  if  we  only 
let  her  alone.  The  necessity  of  such  a  jungle  in  the  Adirondacks  to 
protect  the  water-supply  of  the  Erie  canal,  to  conserve  water-powers, 
and  to  furnish  fresh  air  to  invalids,  was  eloquently  set  forth.  Above 
all,  the  wickedness  of  corporations  engaged  in  actually  using  the  whole 
forest-crop  from  one  area  after  another — turning  even  the  little 
branches  and  twigs  into  paper-pulp,  and  such-like  odious  products — 
was  rhetorically  set  forth  to  a  sympathetic  and  credulous  public.  Much 
of  this  lamentable  performance  was  doubtless  sincere;  but  behind  the 
ignorant  sincerity  there  was  an  influence  which  finally  made  itself 
recognized  as  well  as  felt — the  influence  of  individual  owners  of  small 
pieces  of  land,  and  summer  residences  thereon,  who  were  determined 
that  the  State  should  preserve  at  public  expense  an  unbroken  old- 
fashioned  wilderness  around  them — a  wilderness  in  which  they  could 
camp  or  fish  or  shoot  one  another  by  mistake,  without  being  disturbed 
by  the  sound  of  the  axe  or  the  saw.  To  this  party,  the  thing  to  be 
conserved  was  a  great  open-air  sanitarium  and  game-preserve,  with 
incidental  attractions  of  "scenery,"  unmarred  by  any  unesthetic,  be- 
cause useful,  touch  of  man.  The  whole  history  of  the  matter  has  never 
been  clearly  and  connectedly  told;  indeed,  it  is  not  yet  ended.  But 
among  its  unhappy  results  have  been  already  the  arbitrary  destruction, 
through  the  veto  of  an  ill-advised  Executive,  and  at  the  dictation  of 
interested  parties  who  knew  more,  of  the  foremost  forestry  school  of 
the  United  States ;  the  abandonment,  upon  false  pretenses,  of  a  forestry 
experiment,  outside  of  the  State  Forest  Reserve,  which,  if  suffered  to 
continue,  would  have  furnished  an  object-lesson  of  incalculable  value 
to  private  land-owners  as  well  as  official  bureaus  everywhere;  and  the 
surrender  by  the  State  of  New  York  of  its  proud  position  at  the 
head  of  the  great  work  of  the  conservation  of  forest-resources  for  an 
ignominious  place  at  the  tail  of  that  procession  of  progress.  I  say  "at 
the  tail,"  but  perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  New  York 
is  out  of  the  procession  altogether;  for  I  do  not  think  that  any  other 
State,  however  backward  in  popular  intelligence,  has  ever  gone  quite  so 
far  as  to  forbid  forestry  upon  its  public  land. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  constitutional  prohibition  of  all  cutting 
of  timber  on  the  State  Eorest  Reserve  has  directly  stimulated  the 
setting  of  fires  on  that  domain.  The  private  owners  of  large  timber- 
tracts  have  long  been  aware  that,  especially  when  they  cannot  afford 
to  maintain  a  vigilant  supervision,  and  therefore  leave  their  forests 
to  "the  care  of  Nature"  only,  Indians  and  squatters  deem  it  legitimate 
to  start  fires  in  the  woods,  for  the  sake  of  the  subsequent  new  under- 
growth, which  will  furnish  good  food  for  cattle.  Probably  these  fires 
are  not  intended  to  destroy  the  trees  themselves;  frequently  (if  I  may 
judge  from  the  singed  trunks  in  many  a  forest  which  I  have  traversed), 
they  do  not  have  that  result.    But  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  originate 


CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  27 

many  of  the  devastating  forest  fires ;  nor  is  there  any  doubt  that  possible 
conscientious  scruples  on  the  part  of  the  incendiaries  are  largely 
quieted  by  the  argument  that  the  woods  are  not  specially  valued  by 
their  owners,  because  they  are  not  guarded.  In  this  respect,  the 
U.  S.  Forestry  Bureau  has  wrought  a  great  public  benefit,  by  simply 
showing  that  the  United  States  thinks  its  forests  worth  protecting. 
And  this  proof  is  mightily  enforced  by  its  actual  utilization  of  the 
forest-products.  But  the  State  of  New  York,  through  its  Constitution, 
practically  blazons  the  boundaries  of  its  Forest  Reserve  with  the 
notice:  "The  timber  on  these  lands  is  never  going  to  be  used!"  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  people  should  think  there  is  little  harm  in  hastening 
somewhat  the  natural  destruction  to  which  it  has  been  thus  doomed 
by  law? 

And  unfortunately  the  hypothetical  notice  I  have  quoted  carries, 
in  practice,  a  portentous  postscript,  substantially  saying  that  while  the 
State  will  neither  cut,  on  its  own  account,  nor  sell  to  purchasers  the 
right  to  cut,  any  timber  on  the  Forest  Reserve,  yet  burnt  and  fallen 
timber  may  be  removed!  Could  there  be  a  more  fatally  seductive 
temptation  to  incendiaries  ?  In  fact,  apart  from  the  unlawful  character 
of  the  act  itself,  the  perpetrator  of  it  might  easily  convince  himself 
that  he  was  thereby  doing  the  only  thing  which  the  folly  of  the 
legislators  had  left  to  be  done,  for  the  stoppage  of  irreparable  waste 
of  the  natural  resources  of  the  State — namely,  converting  them  by 
partial  combustion  into  the  only  form  in  which  they  could  be  legally 
utilized ! 

Meanwhile  a  State  Commission  has  gone  on  adding  by  purchase 
or  otherwise  to  the  Forest  Reserve.  But  since  the  Constitution  forbids 
the  subsequent  cuttting  and  sale  of  timber  from  any  tracts  thus  pur- 
chased, after  the  title  has  passed  to  the  State,  the  Commission  cannot 
afford  to  buy  timber-lands  at  prices  including  any  value  assigned  to  the 
timber.  Consequently,  it  bargains  for  such  lands,  to  be  delivered  to  the 
State  after  the  timber  has  been  cut  off,  within  a  limited  period,  by 
the  present  owners.  And  the  present  owners,  unless  they  happen  to  be 
within  market-distance  of  a  wicked  pulp-mill,  cut  the  salable  timber 
as  fast  as  they  can,  and  turn  over  to  the  State  the  land  with  the  un- 
salable underbrush,  tops,  branches  and  twigs  of  the  forest — an  ideal 
nursery  of  forest-conflagrations. 

The  final  result  of  all  these  attempts  at  conservation  by  legislation 
was  exhibited  last  year,  when  the  City  of  New  York  was  darkened 
for  many  days  by  the  smoke  from  the  burning  of  hundreds  of  square 
miles  of  that  Adirondack  wilderness  which  had  been  prepared  by  igno- 
rant legislation  to  nourish  just  such  a  bonfire.  The  destruction  of 
property  thus  occasioned  was  so  great  that  one  is  tempted  to  wish  our 
Constitution-makers,  Legislatures  and  Governors  had  let  the  whole 
business  alone! 


28  CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

Yet  the  tragedy  has  its  comic  after-piece.  For  our  State  authori- 
ties are  now  resuming  on  the  Forest  Reserve  the  once-ridiculed  policy 
of  tree-planting,  instead  of  leaving  the  matter  to  Nature;  and  we 
hear  complacent  statements  of  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  new  trees 
which  have  been  set  out.  Yet  everybody  knows,  or  ought  to  know, 
that  these  plantations  cannot  be  properly  managed  hereafter  without 
the  use  of  "the  forester's  weapon,"  the  axe,  and  that  when,  at  great 
expense,  they  shall  have  been  brought  to  the  condition  of  ripe,  market- 
able forest-crops,  nothing  can  be  done  with  them,  under  our  Constitu- 
tion, but  let  them  decay,  or  sell  them  as  burnt  and  fallen  timber  after 
"accidental"  fires,  and  go  on  planting  new  ones!  The  alternative  is  to 
amend  the  Constitution — a  slow  and  doubtful  process — or  else  "con- 
strue" it  so  as  to  make  it  mean  what  it  does  not  say — an  easy  and 
fashionable  but  most  demoralizing  expedient. 

h. — The  mineral  resources  of  the  State  of  New  York  have  received  at 
the  hands  of  its  law-makers  similarly  ignorant  treatment,  under  cover  of 
which  private  interests  have  similarly  secured  unwarrantable  privileges. 
Under  this  head,  I  will  not  enter  into  details  here.  My  papers  on 
the  mining  laws  of  New  York*  state  a  part  of  the  case.  But  an  over- 
ruling Providence  has  saved  the  State  from  the  results  of  absurd  legis- 
lation in  this  respect  by  withholding  from  it,  so  far  as  is  now  known, 
any  considerable  deposits  of  those  minerals  to  which  the  most  archaic, 
confused,  impracticable  and  absurd  provisions  of  its  mining  laws  would 
apply.  It  is,  therefore,  not  worth  while  to  criticize  these  laws  here, 
though  they  furnish  minor  illustrations  of  my  general  proposition. 

c. — In  short,  conservation  by  legislation  has  put  New  York  in  a 
pretty  bad  situation.  Yet  the  people  of  New  York  are  the  best  party 
to  deal  with  it;  and  the  way  of  remedy  is  the  instruction  of  those 
people.  If  a  similar  set  of  blunders  had  been  perpetrated  by  Federal 
legislation  and  administration,  the  case  would  be  desperate,  because  it 
is  almost  impracticable  to  inform  and  rouse  to  action  forty-six  States 
concerning  problems  and  perils  which  affect  a  single  State  only. 

d. — Such  hasty  legislation  has  characterized  too  often  the  course 
of  the  Federal  Government.  To  take,  for  instance,  the  conservation 
of  anthracite  coal:  In  1871,  as  Mr,  Birkinbine  has  pointed  out  in  his 
recent  paper,  cited  above,  the  American  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers, 
at  its  first  meeting,  took  up  this  question,  listened  to  a  paper  by  the 
late  R.  P.  Rothwell  on  the  unnecessary  waste  of  anthracite  in  mining 
and  preparation  for  market,  and  appointed  a  special  committee  on  the 
subject,  of  which  the  late  Eckley  B.  Coxe  was  chairman.  Mr.  Coxe 
might  have  been  described  as  a  "wealthy  benefactor,"  being,  with 
other  members  of  his  family,  the  owner  of  much  anthracite  land,  the 
operator  of  extensive  collieries,  the  lessor  of  many  tracts  and  the 
of  many  others.     Besides  these  qualifications  for  viewing  the 

*  Trans.,  Am.  Inst.  M.  E.,  XVI,  770 ;  and  XXIV,  712. 


CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  29 

subject  from  all  standpoints,  he  was  a  thoroughly  trained  mining  en- 
gineer— one  of  the  foremost  of  his  generation  *  Into  the  work  thus 
committed  to  his  leadership  by  the  Institute,  he  plunged  with  char- 
acteristic generous  ardor.  As  a  means  of  making  the  results  more 
effective,  he  secured  the  appointment  of  a  Pennsylvania  State  Com- 
mission, the  expenses  of  which,  I  believe,  he  personally  paid,  and  the 
reports  of  which  were  printed  by  that  State,  at  a  time  when  the  Insti- 
tute could  not  afford  to  issue  such  voluminous  documents.  In  con- 
nection with  this  inquiry  and  the  experiments  which  it  involved,  Mr. 
Coxe  expended  a  large  sum;  but  what  he  accomplished,  with  the  aid 
of  the  colliery-proprietors,  operators,  engineers  and  "captains  of  in- 
dustry" who  trusted  and  followed  him,  was  worth  many  times  that 
sum.f  The  waste  of  anthracite,  when  he  began,  was  so  great  that 
less  than  one-third  of  the  good  coal  in  a  seam  mined  reached  the 
market.     This  waste  was  mainly  due  to  two  principal  causes. 

The  first  was  the  demand  for  the  larger  sizes  and  the  unsalability 
of  the  smaller  sizes  of  anthracite,  which  caused  the  latter  to  be  thrown 
away  as  without  value.    The  remedy  for  this  waste  was  to  win  market- 
value  for  the  smaller  coals,  by  instructing  consumers  in  their  use, 
inventing  special  devices  for  that  purpose,  offering  these  sizes  at  prices 
which  made  their  employment  profitable,  and  thus  breaking  down  the 
old  tradition  and  prejudice.     To  these  measures  were  added  remark- 
able improvements  in  coal-breaking  and  coal-washing  machinery,  which 
lessened  the  labor-cost  of  the  operations  involved,  while  diminishing, 
on  one  hand,  the  amount  of  fine  coal  and  dust  produced,  and  facilitat- 
ing, on  the  other  hand,  the  clean  separation  of  such  useful  material 
from  the  slate  and  slate-dust  which  carried  it.     The  great  saving  thus 
effected  cannot  easily  be  estimated.     Certainly  the  sentimental  ama- 
teur or  magazine  writer  who  now  traverses  the  anthracite-region  and 
notes  the  big  black  culm-heaps  as  evidences  of  reckless  waste,  should 
take  pains  to  ascertain  the  date  at  which  each  heap  was  accumulated, 
bearing  in  mind  that  all  is  not  coal  that  is  black,  and  that  the  culm- 
heaps  of  to-day  represent,  not  an  excessive  waste,  but  the  worthless 
refuse  of  a  highly  efiicient  extraction.     This  great  reform  has  been 
secured  by  the  simple  method  of  studying  the  facts  and  disseminating  i 
the  resulting  knowledge  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  to  bear,  through 
commercial  conditions,  the  motive  of  enlightened  self-interest,  which  \ 
is  far  wiser,  as  well  as  stronger  and  more  potent,  than  ignorant  and  ; 
sentimental  altruism.    Legislation  could  not  have  helped  it,  but  might  ; 
have  hindered  it  by  limiting  private  enterprise. 

*  See.  for  a  more  detailed  statement  of  his  life  and  work,  my  "  Biographical  Notice  of 
Eckley  B.  Coxe,"  Trans.,  Am.  Inst.  M.  E.,  XXV,  446  (1895). 

1 1  would  specially  mention  here  the  timely  and  effective  volume  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Geological  Survey,  containing  the  Report  on  the  Mining  Methods  and  Appliances 
used  in  the  Anthracite  Coal-Fields,  by  Dr.  H.  M.  Chance,  another  member  of  the  Institute, 
Second  Geological  Survey  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  AC  (1883). 


W 


vW\' 


30  CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

The  second  principal  source  of  the  waste  of  anthracite  was  the 
method  of  pillar-and-breast  mining  employed,  or,  more  accurately,  the 
way  in  which  that  method  was  applied.    In  laying  out  a  given  level, 
the  breasts  were  made,  say  20  ft.,  and  the  pillars  10  ft.  wide — the 
theory  being,  that  the  pillars  would  support  the  roof  during  the  exca- 
vation of  the  breasts,  and  that,  when  the  breasts  had  been  carried  up 
to  the  level  above,  the  pillars  could  be  "pulled"  or  "robbed,"  and  their 
coal  recovered,  as  a  final  measure  before  abandoning  that  part  of  the 
mine.    In  practice,  however,  these  narrow  pillars  were  seldom  or  never 
recovered.    They  became  crushed  and  worthless  or  not  safely  accessible, 
before  the  time  of  their  extraction  arrived;   and  it  was  cheaper  to 
attack  fresh  coal  elsewhere  than  to  try  to  recover  them.    The  remedy, 
of  course,  was  to  use  another  system  of  mining  when  possible,  and,  if 
the  pillar-and-breast  system  was  dictated  by  the  conditions  of  the  case, 
to  leave  wider  pillars  between  the  breasts,  so  that  the  coal  in  the  pillars 
would  remain  in  good  condition  and  accessible  for  final  extraction. 
It  was  easy  to  demonstrate  this;  but  no   amount  of  demonstration 
could   bring    about    the   needed    reform,    so    long    as    the    anthracite- 
collieries  were  generally  operated  under  leases  for  periods  of  15  or,  at 
the  most,   20   years,  by  lessees   who   paid  royalty  only  on  the  coal 
actually  marketed,  and  whose  interest,  therefore,  was  to  market  within 
the  specified  term  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  coal  at  the  smallest 
possible  immediate  cost.    As  I  remember  the  situation  in  the  '70's  of 
the  last  century,  many  of  these  short-term  leases,  taken  under  the 
inducement  furnished  by  the  abnormal  demand  for  anthracite  as  a 
smokeless  fuel  for  our  blockading  navy,  were  within  8  years  or  less 
of  termination,  a  circumstance  which  put  considerations  of  far-reach- 
ing economy  out  of  the  question.     I  remember  well  what  Eckley  B. 
Coxe  said  to  me,  that  salvation  for  the  anthracite-region  and  its  store 
of  natural  resources  lay  in  the  control  of  the  collieries  by  capitalists 
who  had  other  aims  than  immediate  profit  from  the  coal;  and  that  the 
acquisition  of  such  control  by  great  railway  companies,  whose  interest 
it  was  to  make  anthracite  the  basis  of  a  profitable  freight-business 
for  generations  to  come,  was  not  only  the  best,  but  the  only,  remedy 
for  the  reckless  and  irreparable  waste  which  the  system  of  '^hogging" 
the  mines  under  short  leases  had  brought  about. 

The  results  verified  his  prophecy.  The  great  railway  companies 
operating  the  anthracite-collieries  have  put  more  money  into  pre- 
^  liminary  dead-work  and  costly  machinery;  have  been  the  pioneers  of 
rational  forestry,  for  the  provision  of  permanent  supplies  of  mining 
timber;  have  enforced  economy  in  every  department  of  production; 
have  trained  and  employed  the  most  skillful  engineers  and  experts; 
in  short,  have  redeemed  from  immediately  impending  rack  and  ruin 
the  whole  anthracite-industry.  Incidentally,  every  one  of  them  has 
continued  at  times  to  operate  some  of  its  coUeries  at  a  mining  loss, 


CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  31 

rather  than  throw  out  worthy  workmen,  disarrange  large  transporta- 
tion-systems, and  impair  its  plans  for  a  permanent  business.  There 
are  many  collieries  in  the  region  to-day  which  would  have  to  be  aban- 
doned to-morrow  if  these  companies  were  not  permitted  to  operate 
them. 

Under  these  circumstances,  what  has  the  Federal  Government  done? 
It  has  enacted  the  so-called  "commodity  clause"  of  the  "Hepburn 
bill,"  forbidding  any  railroad  to  carry  its  own  products  (with  certain 
exceptions)  to  market.  In  other  words,  it  has  attempted  to  destroy  the 
one  agency  that  has  proved  itself  able  to  conserve  our  anthracite  coal. 
We  are  waiting  from  day  to  day  to  learn  whether  the  U.  S.  Supreme 
Court  regards  this  provision  as  constitutional.  However  that  decision 
may  turn  out,  it  will  not  alter  the  folly  of  the  legislation  thus  hastily 
and  blindly  enacted. 

2.     The  Destruction  of  Individual  Responsibility  and  Initiative. 

Human  nature  being  what  it  is,  we  are  all  prone  to  order  some- 
thing done  which  we  think  ought  to  be  done,  and  then  to  feel  that  we 
have  performed  our  duty  in  the  premises.  The  result  is  an  over- 
whelming multiplicity  of  laws  with  corresponding  feebleness  or 
sporadic  irregularity  in  their  execution,  and,  worse  yet,  a  general 
disregard  of  the  sanctity  and  authority  of  law.  General  intelligence 
is  a  law  which  executes  itself.  I  need  not  argue  this  point  further. 
We  all  know  that  the  everlasting  multiplication  of  statutes  is  a  crying 
nuisance  of  our  generation.  And  we  must  all  agree  that  if  any  real 
or  supposed  evil  can  be  cured  by  enlightening  the  public  mind,  it  is 
folly  to  try  to  cure  it  by  legislation,  in  advance  of  such  enlightenment. 

3.     The  Tendency  of  Governmental  Agencies  to  Seek  Additional 

Power. 

This  is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  zeal  and  enthusiasm  of 
honest  public  officials,  for  which  they,  ought  to  be  praised,  rather  than 
blamed.  Yet  it  involves  dangers  which  need  to  be  carefully  watched. 
It  is  startling  to  observe  that  all  the  numerous  departments  and  bureaus 
of  our  Federal  government,  with  possibly  one  or  two  exceptions,  have 
grown  from  comparatively  small  beginnings,  and  were  never  delib- 
erately planned  for  the  wider  spheres  which  they  now  occupy.  This  has 
often  been  the  result  of  the  forcing  upon  them  of  additional  powers 
and  duties — more  often,  I  fancy,  of  their  own  laudable  desire  to  extend 
their  work.  In  most  cases — ^particularly  in  the  case  of  the  IT.  S. 
Geological  Survey,  with  which  I  am  best  acquainted — we  rejoice  with 
pride  in  the  result  of  the  process;  yet  the  process  itself  is  a  form  of 
political  "opportunism,"  against  which  we  should  be  on  our  guard. 
By  "opportunism,"  I  mean  the  policy  which  takes  a  given  step  forward 
because  the  last  step  seems  to  require  it,  and  without  considering  what 


!    > 


t5»  CONSERVATION  BY  LEGISLATION 

may  be  the  next  step  required  by  similar  logic  In  this  process,  there 
seems  to  be  no  special  point  for  "calling  a  halt,"  after  the  beginning 
has  once  been  made;  yet  in  many  cases  there  must  be  such  a  point,  if 
we  could  only  find  it;  and  I  think  it  is  our  right  and  duty  as  engineers, 
in  all  questions  affecting  our  own  sphere  of  knowledge  and  work,  to 
find  the  point  and  sound  the  warning. 

4.     The  Expense  of  Governmental  Agencies  and  Regulations. 

What  is  the  purpose  of  "conservation,"  except  to  continue  the  supply 
of  the  materials  needed  to  sustain  and  employ  human  energy?  To 
spend  money  unnecessarily  is  to  make  somebody  spend  energy  unneces- 
sarily. The  famous  anthracite  commission  (which,  though  vehemently 
declared  to  be  a  personal  intervention  only,  was  in  form  and  effect 
a  governmental  one)  permanently  raised  the  price  of  anthracite  coal 
50  cents  per  ton.  The  infinite  requirements  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  are  saddling  an  annual  extra  expense  of  many 
millions  of  dollars  upon  the  railroads,  and  therefore  upon  the  trav- 
elers, of  the  country.  Hundreds  of  tons  of  useless  monthly  statistics, 
written  or  printed,  are  "filed" — that  is  to  say,  stored  at  Washington. 
The  railroads  of  the  country  are  employing  an  army  of  clerks,  not 
needed  before,  to  satisfy  these  clumsy  and  costly  requirements.  Worse 
than  that — the  men  whose  skill  and  wisdom  are  needed  for  the  man- 
agement of  great  enterprises  are  deliberately  worn  out  by  m.echanical 
duties  imposed  upon  them  by  the  laws.  I  met,  not  long  ago,  the  presi- 
dent of  a  large  railroad-system,  comprising  more  than  thirty  separate 
corporations,  who  told  me  that  he  was  obliged  to  furnish  once  a  month, 
under  his  personal  oath,  a  statement  of  the  business  of  each  one  of 
them.  Being  a  conscientious  and  prudent  man,  he  was  not  willing  to 
swear  to  an  account  without  personally  examining  it,  and  therefore 
he  had  to  send  for  an  auditor  and  go  through  a  monthly  statement 
with  him  more  than  once  a  day,  the  year  round.  I  need  hardly  add 
that  when  I  met  this  gentleman,  he  was  "recovering  his  health." 

6.     The  Interference  of   Government  Agencies  with  Private 
Occupations. 

Under  this  head,  I  would  mention  only  that  aspect  of  the  sub- 
ject which  particularly  concerns  engineers  and  men  of  similar  pro- 
fessions. Successive  Directors  of  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey  have 
recognized  the  danger  of  setting  up  a  disastrous  competition  with 
private  experts.  The  members  of  that  Survey  are  not  permitted  to 
take  private  work,  or  to  put  at  the  disposal  of  private  employers  the 
information  they  have  gained  as  public  officials.  It  is,  therefore,  only 
in  Canada,  Mexico,  and  other  foreign  countries  that  they  occasionally 
become  competitors  of  private  engineers,  who  are  trying  to  make  a 


CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION  33 

living  by  the  practice  of  their  profession,  and  find  themselves  handi- 
capped in  the  struggle. 

But  when  the  U.  S.  Forestry  Bureau  offered  (I  do  not  know  whether 
the  practice  still  continues)  to  furnish  advice  gratis  to  the  private 
owners  of  woodlands,  the  offer  tended  to  make  it  impossible  for  an 
educated  and  trained  forester  to  earn  a  living  by  his  profession,  unless 
he  could  get  an  appointment  in  the  U.  S.  Forestry  service.  The 
motive  was  good,  no  doubt:  the  desire  to  impress  upon  the  people 
(and  especially  upon  Congress)  the  value  of  scientific  forestry.  But 
the  means  were  not  justified  by  the  end. 

This  danger  attends  all  governmental  activity,  outside  of  the  pro- 
tection of  person  and  property,  the  keeping  of  the  peace  and  the  en- 
forcement of  contracts.  Even  things  good  or  necessary  for  other 
reasons  have  this  attendant  disadvantage.  Free  public  schools,  for 
instance,  we  must  have,  if  we  are  to  have  universal  suffrage  and  other 
free  institutions.  Yet  the  better  we  make  our  free  schools,  the  harder 
we  make  it  for  private  schools  to  live;  and  now  that  in  many  places 
the  position  of  a  public-school  teacher  is  open  to  the  holder  of  a  cer- 
tain certificate  only,  and  advancement  must  come  slowly,  after  long 
service  in  lower  grades,  we  have  well  nigh  brought  it  to  pass  that 
learning,  or  mastery  of  a  given  specialty,  not  commercially  useful,  is 
worthless.  Who  of  us  does  not  remember  accomplished  gentlemen  of 
middle  age,  seeking  in  vain  to  earn  their  bread  through  the  knowledge 
of  ancient  or  modern  languages,  or  of  mathematics,  which  they  have 
spent  many  years  to  acquire?  This  is  a  result  of  the  competition  of 
the  free  instruction  given  by  the  State.  For  other  and  overwhelming 
reasons,  we  must  have  that  system;  but  we  should  not  forget  the  high 
price  we  have  paid  for  it  by  depreciating  the  practical  value  of  that 
which  we  thus  give  away.  Nor  should  we  hastily  pay  a  similar  price 
for  a  less  imperatively  necessary  public  benefit. 

6.     The   Half -Way  Adoption  of  European  Methods. 

Against  this  peril  we  should  be  specially  on  our  guard.  There  are  two 
distinct  systems  of  governmental  administration.  Under  what  may  be 
called  the  European  system,  governments  have  endowed  and  subsidized 
universities,  schools,  opera-houses,  art-galleries,  etc.,  and  have  organized 
industry,  commerce,  and  even  domestic  life,  under  the  supervision  of 
officials,  duly  educated  for  the  work,  protected  in  their  official  posi- 
tions, promoted  by  seniority  or  merit,  decorated  for  faithful  service, 
pensioned  when  they  are  retired,  and  meanwhile  secured  in  social  rank 
by  their  membership  in  the  civil  service  of  the  State.  In  consideration 
of  these  assured  benefits,  they  serve  honestly,  intelligently  and  patiently, 
for  very  small  salaries.  We  need  not  seek  far  for  a  parallel,  even 
under  our  own  institutions.  The  whole  service  of  a  European  State 
is  organized  just  like  the  regular  Army  and  Navy  of  the  United  States. 


^ 


34  CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 

It  works  well  with  our  Army  and  Navy.  Indeed,  nothing  better  could 
be  imagined  for  military  purposes.  And  the  whole  system  is  mag- 
nificent in  its  balanced  details,  wrought  out  in  centuries  of  experience 
abroad.     It  is  what  we  call  "bureaucracy." 

The  traditional  American  system  is  that  of  elected  officials  and 
"rotation  in  office";  the  endowment  and  support  of  educational,  scien- 
tific and  philanthropic  institutions  by  private  benevolence,  and  the 
utmost  freedom  of  personal  enterprise  and  occupation.  Personally,  I 
think  the  American  system  is  the  best;  partly  because  I  believe,  with 
Herbert  Spencer,  that  a  democratic  government  is  the  worst  possible 
government  to  do  those  things  which  no  government  ought  to  do,  and 
partly  because,  during  the  last  hundred  years,  this  nation,  with  its 
American  system,  has  overtaken  all  foreign  nations,  in  spite  of  their 
start  of  centuries,  in  precisely  those  respects  in  which  their  "paternal" 
system  has  sought  to  promote  national  prosperity  and  progress.  More- 
over, when  I  was  a  student  in  Germany  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  and 
in  every  one  of  those  fifty  years  since,  I  have  known  many  accom- 
plished and  aspiring  engineers  who  had  found  government  ownership, 
government  supervision  and  government  red-tape  an  intolerable  bur- 
den and  hindrance;  and  I  am  profoundly  convinced  that,  in  the  long 
run,  the  utmost  practicable  liberty  is  better  than  the  wisest  practicable 
bureaucratic  regulation.  Moreover,  I  do  not  believe  that  our  people 
would  accept,  or  our  institutions  bear,  the  European  system. 

My  present  purpose,  however,  is  not  to  discuss  the  merits  of  either 
system,  but  to  point  out  the  danger  of  engrafting  features  of  the  one 
upon  the  other.  If  we  are  going  to  regulate  everything  by  Govern- 
ment bureaus,  then  their  employees  must  be  appointed,  removed  and 
promoted  without  the  least  consideration  of  political  influence,  and 
pensioned  upon  retirement.  Otherwise,  we  shall  have  the  worst  of  all 
bureaucracies,  namely,  a  temporary  and  fluctuating  one. 

It  is  quite  conceivable  that,  after  a  century  of  the  American  system, 
the  time  has  come  when  we  must  face  the  necessity  of  adopting  an- 
other. In  that  case,  let  us  really  face  it,  and  not  dodge  it,  or  permit 
our  choice  to  be  foreclosed  by  "opportunism,"  which  gradually  leads 
us  on  until  the  power  of  choice  is  no  longer  ours. 

V.    The  Record  of  the  Federal  Government. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  argument  that  what  ought  to  be  done  for 
the  welfare  of  our  people,  and  has  not  been  done  by  the  several  States, 
or  could  be  better  done  by  the  Federal  government,  ought  to  be 
entrusted  to  that  central  authority.  Concerning  the  constitutional 
argument  on  this  point,  I  have  nothing  to  say  here.  Let  us  assume 
that  by  amendment  or  "construction"  of  the  Constitution,  the  thing 
could  be  done,  if  desired.     The  question  is,  would  it  be  desirable? 

Of  the  many  aspects  of  this  question,  I  shall  here  present  but  one 


CONSERVATION  BY  LEGISLATION  35 

— namely,  the  universal  testimony  of  experience  that  the  assignment 
of  too  many  functions  to  a  central  government  gives  it  more  work 
than  it  can  properly  perform,  and  results,  first,  in  the  inadequate  per- 
formance of  its  proper  work,  and  secondly,  in  the  neglect  of  its  extra 
work,  or  the  relegation  of  that  duty  to  individuals  or  committees.  The 
way  in  which  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Indian  questions  fare  at  the  hands  of 
the  Imperial  British  Parliament  has  been  often  set  forth  as  what 
seems  to  us  Americans  a  strong  business  argument  for  the  establish- 
ment of  local  legislatures  in  that  Empire;  and  it  is  somewhat  sur- 
prising to  hear  serious  proposals  that  we  should  unnecessarily  incur 
the  same  difficulties  of  administration.  But  we  need  not  appeal  to  the 
experience  of  other  nations.  Our  own  Federal  government  has  long 
been  engaged  in  administering  with  full  and  unquestioned  authority 
the  affairs  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  sundry  other  reservations, 
tracts,  and  territories.  What  is  the  record  upon  which  it  can  ask  for 
any  increase  of  the  sphere  of  its  authority?  In  answering  this  ques- 
tion, I  am  not  indicting  the  Executive  departments.  The  faults  I  shall 
point  out  are,  perhaps,  mostly  those  of  Congress;  but  my  aim  is  simply 
to  show  that,  in  a  century  of  operations,  the  Federal  government,  as  a 
whole,  has  not -discharged  its  obvious  duties  in  such  a  way  as  .to  warrant 
the  conferment  of  additional  authority  upon  it. 

1.  What  has  Congress  done  for  the  District  of  Columbia?  How 
much  time  is  given  by  that  body  to  the  affairs  of  that  District?  The 
District  contains  mines;  has  it  any  mining  law?  Only  the  other  day 
we  heard  that,  in  an  important  civil  case,  involving  the  liberty  of 
citizens,  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Justice  was  proposing  to  act  under 
authority  of  a  Maryland  statute,  nearly  a  hundred  years  old,  which 
had  been  dug  up  as  an  authority,  in  the  absence  of  any  later  legisla- 
tion by  Congress. 

2.  The  other  day  a  friend,  just  returned  from  Alaska,  informed 

me  that  he  had  found  Indian  tribes  threatened  with  starvation  because 

the  U.  S.  authorities  permitted  the  seines  of  the  salmon-fisheries  to  lie 

continuously  across  the  mouths  of  the  streams  and  estuaries  up  which 

the  fish  were   accustomed  to   run   for  spawning.     On  the   Canadian 

shores  the  seines  had  to  be  removed  for  at  least  24  hours  in  the  week; 

and,  of  course,  the  absence  of  such  a  requirement  on  the  American 

side  was  preventing  the  increase  of  the  salmon,  as  well  as  starving 

the  Indians.     If  Alaska  were  a  State,  and  had  control  of  the  matter, 

such  an  evil  would  soon  be  remedied;  but  Washington  was  far  away, 

and  Congress  was  otherwise  busy;  and  so  both  fish  and  natives  were 

sacrified — a     curious     illustration     of    the     conservation     of    natural 

resources.* 

*  An  inquiry,  the  result  of  which  was  received  just  after  this  paragraph  had  been 
printed,  leads  me  to  modify  my  statement  on  this  point.  It  appears  that  there  are  U.  S. 
regulations  concerning  the  seine -fisheries;  but  I  think  it  also  appears  that  they  are  either 
inadequate,  or  inadequately  enforced,  or  audaciously  defied  or  evaded.  The  lamentable 
result  is  beyond  doubt. 


36  CONSERVATION   BY  LEGISLATION 


3.  But  the  crowning  illustration  of  failure  on  the  part  of  the 
w\  Federal  government  to  deal  competently  with  its  clear  and  unques- 
VX  tioned  duty  in  connection  with  our  natural  resources  is  its  treatment 

I  \of  the  mineral  resources  of  the  public  domain.  This  vast  territory  has 
belonged  to  the  United  States  for  more  than  sixty  years  (some  of  it, 
acquired  by  the  Louisiana  purchase,  for  a  much  longer  period).  Yet, 
at  the  present  time,  there  is  not  a  map  in  existence  showing  what 
mineral  land  is  owned  by  the  Government.  Any  one  who  "locates"  a 
"lode"  on  the  public  domain  thereby  withdraws  therefrom  the  tract 
covered  by  his  location.  His  possessory  title  depends  upon  the  per- 
formance of  certain  conditions ;  but  the  initiation  of  it  is  not  required 
to  be  made  known  to  the  Government  at  all.  If  you  wish  to  buy  from 
the  United  States  a  certain  piece  of  mineral  land  which  you  have 
located,  you  are  told :  "We  do  not  know  whether  we  own  it  or  not ;  but 
you  can  have  it  surveyed,  if  you  like,  and  then  advertise  for  ninety 
days  your  desire  to  purchase  it;  and  if  nobody  appears  within  that 
period  to  oppose  your  claim,  we  will  conclude  that  we  own  the  land, 
and  will  sell  it  to  you!" 

Why  have  the  public  mineral  lands  never  been  surveyed?  Why 
has  notice  of  location  never  been  required  by  the  United  States  as  a 
foundation  of  possessory  title?  There  are  other  defects  in  the  U.  S. 
mineral  laws,  over  which  opinions  differ,  and  for  which  it  may  be 
difficult  to  find  satisfactory  remedies;  but  these  two  points  involve 
absolutely  no  political  difference  or  difficulty.  The  first  step  towards 
the  conservation  of  anything  is  an  inventory  of  it;  and  until  the 
government  of  the  United  States  can  show  itself  competent  to  per- 
form this  simple  duty  as  to  the  property  explicitly  put  in  its  hands, 
I  do  not  think  it  can  be  wisely  intrusted  with  matters  not  so  clearly 
within  its  sphere. 

In  short,  so  far  as  the  mineral  resources  of  the  country  are  con- 
cerned, I  think  the  immediate  duty  of  American  mining  engineers  is 
to  urge  upon  Congress  the  survey  of  the  public  mineral  lands,  and 
the  enactment  of  a  statute  making  the  simple  and  reasonable  require- 
ment that  notices  of  location  shall  be  filed  in  a  U.  S.  Land  Office 
within  a  certain  period  after  the  act  of  location.  If  there  is  not  virtue 
and  intelligence  enough  in  Congress  to  take  this  obvious,  necessary 
step,  how  can  we  trust  that  body,  or  its  executive  agents,  to  manage 
greater  questions?    And,  as  to  the  general  problem  of  "conservation," 

/  I  I  think  it  is  the  business  of  all  engineers  to  pour  cold  water  on  hot 
heads,  and  prevent,  so  far  as  they  may,  the  reckless  operations  of  a 
sincere,  but  ignorant,  enthusiasm. 


V'J 


THE  WASTE  OF  OUK  NATURAL  RESOURCES  BY  FIRE. 
Charles  Whiting  Baker,  M.  Am.  Soc.  M.  E. 

The  topic  assigned  to  me  this  evening  is,  in  more  senses  than  one, 
a  "burning"  subject.  I  know  that  statistics  are  apt  to  be  dry,  and 
statistics  of  fires  naturally  would  be  dry  anyway.  But  I  have  to  ask 
your  attention  to  a  few  statistics  of  the  waste  due  to  fires. 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey  has  been  engaged  for  some 
time  on  an  investigation  of  the  losses  by  fire  in  the  United  States. 
Through  the  courtesy  of  Kr.  Herbert  M.  Wilson,  of  the  Survey,  I  am 
able  to  give  you  some  of  the  main  results  of  this  investigation  which 
have  not  yet  been  published. 

The  sum  total  of  the  losses  by  fire  in  the  United  States  in  the 
year  1907  was  $215  000  000.  About  half  of  this  $215  000  000  was  loss 
upon  the  buildings  themselves  which  were  burned  or  injured  by  fire. 
The  other  half  was  upon  the  furniture,  merchandise,  etc.,  contained  in 
the  buildings.  Besides  this  vast  property  loss,  1450  persons  lost 
their  lives  in  fires  and  5  650  were  injured.  The  fires  which  caused 
these  losses  of  life  and  property  occurred  in  165  250  buildings,  and  the 
average  damage  to  each  building  and  its  contents  was  $1  667. 

Notice  that  these  are  the  direct  losses  only.  No  estimate  has  been 
made  of  the  indirect  cost  of  fires,  the  interruption  to  business,  the 
expense  of  maintaining  fire  departments  and  of  conducting  fire  insur- 
ance companies,  which  distribute  the  loss  generally  over  the  community. 
Also,  these  figures  include  only  damages  to  buildings  and  their  con- 
tents. There  are,  besides,  the  damages  done  by  fires  in  mines  and  in 
forests  to  be  taken  into  account  to  obtain  the  full  record  of  destruction 
due  to  this  element. 

Let  us  come  back,  howeyer,  to  these  figures  of  total  loss  by  fires  in 
buildings  in  1907.  What  do  these  figures  mean?  Do  we  really  com- 
prehend their  significance?  We  speak  glibly  of  a  million  or  a  hundred 
million  or  two  hundred  million,  but  do  these  figures  really  create  a 
vivid  picture  in  our  minds? 

I  strongly  suspect  that  we,  as  engineers,  too  often  handle  statistics 
and  numbers  and  records  without  clearly  comprehending  how  much — 
or  how  little — they  mean.  We  handle  them  quite  as  the  engineering 
student  sometimes  handles  his  problems  in  algebra  or  mechanics — 
X  and  Y  and  C"  are  just  letters  to  him.  He  forgets  that  they  symbolize 
actual  concrete  quantities.  So  we  forget  in  dealing  with  large  figures 
to  visualize  the  bulk  they  represent. 


o8  WASTE    BY    FIEB 

Suppose  we  try  to,  picture  to  ourselves  what  these  many  millions 
of  dollars'  worth  of  valuable  buildings  in  which  fire  annually  rages 
would  look  like.  Suppose  it  were  possible  to  bring  these  buildings 
which  were  visited  by  fire  in  1907  all  together  and  to  range  them  on 
both  sides  of  a  long  city  street.  Let  us  place  these  buildings  closely 
together,  as  they  might  be  placed  on  an  ordinary  street  in  a  fair-sized 
city.  We  will  assume  that  the  lots  on  which  these  buildings  stand 
have  an  average  frontage  of  65  ft.  How  long  a  street  do  you  suppose 
would  be  required  to  make  room  for  all  these  buildings?  Make  a 
mental  guess  before  I  tell  you,  and  you  will  then  have  some  idea  how 
accurate  your  conception  of  large  numbers  is.  Perhaps  you  may  guess 
that  such  a  street  would  reach  the  length  of  Manhattan  Island;  or  you 
may  be  bolder  and  guess  that  it  would  reach  from  New  York  all  the 
way  across  New  Jersey  to  Philadelphia.  But  those  of  you  who  are 
apt  in  that  most  useful  branch  of  mathematics  to  the  engineer — mental 
arithmetic — have  perceived  already,  I  doubt  not,  that  the  street  will 
be  far  longer  than  this.  I  may  say  at  once  that  this  street,  lined  on 
both  sides  with  the  buildings  visited  by  fire  in  1907,  would  reach  all 
the  way  from  New  York  to  Chicago.  That  is  what  the  annual  fire 
loss  of  the  United  States  represents — a  closely  built-up  street,  a 
thousand  miles  long,  with  every  structure  in  it  ravaged  by  the  destruc- 
tive element.  Picture  yourself  driving  along  this  terribly  desolated 
street.  At  every  thousand  feet  you  pass  the  ruins  of  a  building  from 
which  an  injured  person  was  rescued.  Every  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
there  is  the  blackened  wreck  of  a  house  in  which  some  one  was  burned 
to  death. 

Imagine  this  street  before  the  fire  touched  it,  lined  with  houses, 
stores,  factories,  barns,  schools,  churches.  Suppose  the  fire  starts  at 
one  end  of  the  street  on  the  first  day  of  January  and  is  steadily  driven 
forward  by  a  high  wind,  just  as  actually  happens  in  a  conflagration. 
Building  after  building  takes  fire ;  and  while  the  fire  fighters  save  some 
in  a  more  or  less  injured  condition,  the  fire  steadily  eats  its  way 
forward  at  the  rate  of  nearly  three  miles  a  day,  for  a  whole  week,  for 
a  whole  month,  for  all  the  twelve  months  of  the  year.  And  at  the 
end  of  1907  did  the  conflagration  end?  No;  it  began  on  a  new 
street,  a  thousand  miles  long,  which  was  likewise  destroyed  when  1908 
was  ended.     And  this  same  destruction  is  going  on  to-day. 

But  you  say,  do  not  the  figures  you  have  quoted  represent  an 
unusually  bad  year?  And  are  not  the  improvements  in  construction 
— the  better  building  laws,  the  better  fir6  protection — showing  in 
diminished  fire  losses?  Unfortunately  I  have  to  answer  No  to  both 
questions.  The  statistics  of  fire  losses  gathered  for  many  years  by  the 
National  Board  of  Fire  Underwriters  show  that  the  annual  fire  loss 
has  been  steadily  increasing.  In  the  ten  years  ending  with  1907,  the 
annual  fire  loss  averaged  $203  000  000.    In  the  ten  years  ending  with 


WASTE    BY    FIRE  39 

1897,  it  was  $132  000  000.  In  the  ten  years  ending  with  1887,  it  was 
$92  000  000.  Thus  our  fire  loss  has  doubled  in  20  years.  Of  course, 
the  increase  in  population,  in  wealth,  in  number  of  buildings,  means 
that  more  property  and  lives  are  at  risk  from  fires,  and  accounts  for 
the  increase  in  total  fire  losses  that  the  past  30  years  has  shown.  But 
that  increase  has  not  been  noticeably  checked  by  anything  which  we 
have  done  to  reduce  the  fire  risk. 

But  again  you  say,  is  not  this  fire  loss  a  necessary  evil?  Must  not 
a  certain  risk  of  fire  be  incurred  in  any  building  ?  Is  there  anything  to 
show  that  the  total  fire  loss,  the  risk  to  property  and  to  life  can  be 
reduced?  These  are  fair  questions,  and  their  answer  may  lead  us  to 
take  what  I  may  call  a  common-sense  view  of  the  subject.  A  certain 
amount  of  loss  by  fire  must  be  expected.  Safety  and  danger  are 
relative  terms,  and  there  is  no  such  thing  as  absolute  safety.  But  we 
have  only  to  look  at  the  records  of  fires  in  European  countries  to  learn 
that  our  fire  losses  are  very,  very  far  beyond  those  of  any  other 
country  of  advanced  civilization.  The  fire  loss  in  the  United  States 
in  1907  represented  an  annual  per  capita  tax  of  $2.50  on  every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  population.  That  means  a  tax  of  $15  a  year 
on  the  head  of  every  family  of  six  persons.  In  the  principal  European 
countries  the  fire  loss  per  capita  per  annum  is  as  follows:  Italy,  12 
cents;  France,  30  cents;  Austria,  29  cents;  Germany,  49  cents.  Allow- 
ing for  the  fact  that  European  populations  are  far  more  dense  than 
our  own,  it  is  yet  evident  that  their  losses  are  only  a  small  fraction  of 
those  in  the  United  States.  It  is  only  in  Russia  and  Norway,  where 
wooden  buildings  form  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  whole,  that 
the  fire  loss  per  capita  approaches  even  half  of  our  own  per  capita  rate. 

I  have  referred  to  a  common-sense  way  of  treating  this  question 
of  fire  risk.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  common-sense  way  is  to  reduce 
fire  risk  by  better  construction  whenever  and  wherever  it  will  pay  to  do 
so.  The  engineer's  business  is  to  make  a  dollar  earn  the  most  interest. 
If  a  structure  will  represent  a  smaller  annual  cost  for  its  whole  life, 
insurance  and  fire  risk  taken  into  account,  when  built  of  wood  than 
when  built  of  iron  or  brick  or  stone  or  concrete,  then  and  there  wood 
is  the  material  to  use.  Deplore  as  we  may  the  loss  of  the  forests,  the 
engineer,  like  every  one  else,  is  hemmed  in  by  economic  laws  andj,  , 
market  prices  and  cannot  stray  far  from  the  bounds  that  they  set  or  he/  ■  \j  'J 
will  find  his  occupation  gone. 

But — and  this  is  a  big  but — the  trouble  is  that  the  public — and  the 
engineers  with  it — is  apt  to  run  on  in  a  rut.  We  go  on  building  in  the 
old-fashioned  way,  because  at  one  time  it  was  the  cheapest  and  we 
are  not  wise  enough  to  realize  the  economy  of  newer  methods.  Nothing 
but  high  and  higher  prices  for  lumber  will  bring  us  to  our  senses  and 
induce  us  to  wake  up  and  bring  ourselves  and  our  practice  up  to  date. 

I  said,  you  remember,  use  better  construction  whenever  and  wher- 


40 


WASTE    BY    FIRE 


WWl 


ever  it  will  pay  to  do  so.  I  use  that  word  pay  in  a  very  broad  sense. 
It  may  pay  the  builder  or  the  owner  best  to  put  up  a  cheap  building, 
which  will  be  a  danger  to  tenants  and  a  menace  to  all  adjacent  build- 
ings. A  hundred  or  a  thousand  such  buildings,  huddled  in  a  city,  make 
the  possibility  of  a  conflagration.  Thus  comes  about  the  necessity  of 
laws  to  regulate  building.  We  have  erred  in  the  past  and  still  err 
all  over  this  broad  land,  because  we  have  laid  overmuch  emphasis  on 
the  right  of  each  individual  to  do  as  he  pleased  with  his  own.  And 
we  have  been  slow  to  realize  that  this  liberty  often  degenerates  into 
license  to  do  as  he  pleased  with  the  rights  and  the  property  of  his 
neighbors. 

I  do  not  overstate  the  case  when  I  say  that  our  American  cities  and 
villages  are  made  up  almost  wholly  of  fire-trap  buildings.  We  have 
lagged  far  behind  in  our  adoption  of  better  and  safer  methods  of  build- 
ing construction.  We  must  for  at  least  a  generation  to  come  pay  the 
penalty  of  heavy  charges  for  fire  protection,  heavy  insurance  rates, 
heavy  fire  losses.  And  we  must  continue  to  bear  this  heavy  tax  until 
we  rebuild  our  cities  with  fire-resisting  structures. 

Fortunately  the  engineer  has  provided  the  means  and  the  materials 
by  which  better  and  more  economical  construction  can  be  substituted. 
It  was  the  circular  saw  and  the  railway  that  created  cheap  timber 
throughout  the  19th  century  and  housed  the  people  of  the  United 
States  in  cheaply  built  and  easily  burned  wooden  buildings.  It  is  the 
rotary  kiln  for  burning  Portland  cement,  the  rock  drill,  the  brick  press, 
and  a  thousand  other  modern  inventions  that  are  to  create  the  incom- 
bustible buildings  which  the  20th  century  is  to  construct.  Let  us  not 
forget,  either,  that  incombustible  buildings  are  only  one  part  of  the 
art  of  fire-protection  engineering.  Most  of  the  materials  of  commerce 
are  combustible.  Many  are  highly  inflammable.  We  must  protect  the 
contents  of  warehouses  and  factories,  even  though  the  structure  be  safe. 

I  know  of  no  better  proof  of  the  possibilities  in  the  field  of  fire 
prevention  than  what  has  been  actually  accomplished  by  the  Factory 
Mutual  Insurance  Companies  of  New  England.  These  companies, 
insuring  chiefly  mills  which  handle  cotton,  one  of  the  most  inflammable 
of  materials,  have  reduced  their  rate  of  loss  to  about  5  cents  per 
annum  per  $100  insured,  a  rate  of  loss  little  more  than  a  tenth, 
probably,  of  the  average  fire  loss  on  all  classes  of  buildings  in  the 
United  States.  I  cannot  refrain  from  saying  that  among  the  pioneers 
who  have  done  most  in  accomplishing  this  feat  in  conservation — in  the 
prevention  of  waste — is  the  first  speaker  of  this  evening,  Mr.  .John 
R.  Freeman. 

The  automatic  sprinkler,  the  automatic  fire  alarm  and  many  other 
devices,  with  the  organization  and  discipline  of  fire-fighting  forces, 
and  inspection  for  fire  prevention,  have  transformed  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  classes  of  fire  risks  to  one  of  the  safest. 


WASTE    BY    FIRE  41 

I  remember  my  old  professor  of  rhetoric  telling  me  that  a  model 
sermon  should  be  like  a  kiss — two  heads  and  an  application. 

My  sermon  on  this  burning  question  must  draw  to  a  close,  but  I 
must  say  just  a  word  under  my  second  head,  which  is  forest  fires.  I 
will  not  bore  you  with  many  statistics  of  forest-fire  losses.  Surely, 
surely  the  memory  of  the  forest  fires  which  raged  last  September  and 
October  and  of  the  vast  losses  of  property  and  the  terrible  losses  of 
life  which  then  occurred  is  too  near  and  too  vivid  to  need  more  than  a 
passing  allusion. 

The  fires  which  raged  in  the  Adirondack  region  last  fall  burned 
over  an  area  of  347  000  acres  or  542  sq.  miles.  About  38%  of  this 
area  bore  merchantable  timber.  This  damage  was  done  within  the 
limits  of  one  single  state.  I  leave  you  to  form  your  own  estimate  of 
the  value  destroyed  by  these  fires  and  by  the  multitude  of  other  fires 
which  raged  through  New  England,  in  Pennsylvania,  in  the  pine 
forests  of  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  and  Minnesota  and  in  the  Southern 
States. 

And  the  worst  result  of  the  forest  fire — even  worse  than  the  destruc- 
tion of  valuable  timber  and  young  growing  trees  which  should  furnish 
the  lumber  that  will  be  so  sorely  needed  a  quarter  century  hence — is 
the  destruction  of  the  soil  itself.  There  are  many  hundreds  of  square 
miles  in  the  Adirondack  region  where  forest  fires  have  burned  away 
the  wood  soil  and  humus  and  have  destroyed  the  possibility  of  repro- 
ducing the  forest  growth — at  least  for  long  years  to  come.  Is  it  a  light 
thing  that  these  vast  areas,  which  might  under  proper  administration 
go  on  producing  year  after  year  a  steady  crop  of  timber,  should  be 
reduced  to  barren  desert? 

What  I  most  want  to  make  clear  to  you  is  that  unless  and  until 
you  create  in  every  forest  State  of  the  Union  effective  laws  and 
effective  organization  to  prevent  forest  fires — unless  and  until  you  do 
that  thing — all  our  talk  of  conserving  the  forests  is  vain.  We  cannot  |  a 
get  away  from  economic  laws.  We  cannot  expect  a  man  to  preserve  >-  ', 
valuable  woodlands  uncut  when  at  any  time  a  forest  fire  may  wipe  out 
the  property  entirely.  And  the  higher  the  price  of  lumber  goes,  the 
greater  the  inducement  to  cut  off  the  trees. 

Thus  the  more  our  forests  dwindle  and  the  nearer  the  inevitable 
timber  famine  approaches,  the  more  certain  we  make  it  that  all  the 
forests  shall  disappear.  If  a  man  could  hold  his  timber  lands  like 
other  property  for  a  higher  price  without  risk  of  total  loss,  many 
would  prefer  to  do  this,  and  many  would  be  found  to  undertake  timber 
culture;  but,  so  long  as  timber  properties  are  subject  to  grave  risk 
of  total  loss,  they  cannot  be  attractive  to  capital.  \ 

I  may  be  criticised  for  saying  very  little  so  far  about  conservation.       ' 
But  surely  little  need  be  said  to  prove  that  the  fire  loss  is  a  waste  and 
a  vast  drain  upon  our  natural  resources.    Every  one  appreciates  it,  of 


42  WASTE    BY    FIRE 

course,  where  forest  fires  are  concerned;  but  it  is  just  as  much  of  a 
drain  on  the  forests  to  burn  up  the  boards  and  the  timber  in  a  house 
which  must  be  rebuilt  as  to  burn  up  the  trees  before  they  are  cut  down 
and  sawed.  And  not  only  timber  but  iron,  tin,  lead,  zinc — all  the 
materials  used  in  building  construction — and  a  vast  amount  of  mer- 
chandise contained  in  buildings  are  devoured  annually  by  the  flames. 
Surely,  then,  the  prevention  of  this  waste — the  work  of  the  structural 
engineer  and  the  fire-protection  engineer — is  a  task  whose  accomplish- 
ment means  much  for  the  public  benefit,  means  much  for  the  conserva- 
tion of  the  world's  resources. 


ELECTKICITY  AND  THE   CONSEEVATION   OF  ENERGY. 
Lewis  B.  Stillwell,  M.  Am.  Inst.  E.  E. 

In  any  problem  accurate  and,  so  far  as  practicable,  concise  state- 
ment is  essential  to  proper  consideration  and  correct  solution.  The 
economic  problems  which  present  themselves  when  the  complex  and 
far-reaching  subject.  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources,  is  considered, 
can  be  approached  best  by  first  stating  and  defining  them  with  refer- 
ence solely  to  physical  and  economic  facts  and  relations  without  refer- 
ence to  political  boundaries  or  limitations.  To  approach  the  subject 
by  considering,  first,  real  or  supposed  difficulties  imposed  by  the  re- 
spective rights  and  duties  of  states  and  of  the  nation  is  to  discuss 
method  of  treatment  before  diagnosis.  We  should  consider  the  prob- 
lem first  as  if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  states  within  the  Union, 
assuming,  for  the  time  being,  within  the  Federal  boundaries  the 
existence  of  one  central  and  absolute  authority.  The  question  what 
upon  this  assumption  is  economically  desirable,  is  that  which  the  En- 
gineering Profession  should  first  agree  upon  and,  if  possible,  state  in 
a  manner  which  will  be  understood  by  the  general  public. 

Conservation  as  applied  to  our  natural  energy  resources  means 
utilization  without  unnecessary  waste.  In  a  broader  sense  it  means 
also  development  along  lines  which  will  not  only  utilize  but  increase 
those  resources;  for  example,  as  regards  water  powers  it  has  relation 
to  the  maintenance  and  renewal  of  forests  affecting  variations  in  stream 
flow,  and  the  construction  of  storage  reservoirs  which,  properly  used, 
are  capable  of  adding  greatly  to  that  part  of  the  run-off  which  can  be 
used  for  industrial  purposes  and  navigation. 

Much  has  been  uttered  recently  with  reference  to  these  relations 
which  cannot  be  expected  to  hold  good  in  the  light  of  that  clearer 
knowledge  which  will  result  from  further  study  and  experience — much 
that  is  erroneous  and  misleading  even  when  examined  critically  in 
the  light  of  facts  now  ascertained  and  determined.  General  state- 
ments from  sources  commanding  the  attention  and  arousing  the  inter- 
est of  the  public  are  necessary  first  steps  in  turning  a  nation  from 
reckless  waste  and  almost  unrestricted  appropriation  of  natural  re- 
sources by  individuals  to  a  policy  of  wise  conservation,  having  due 
regard  to  the  common  interest  now  and  in  the  future.  Those  first 
steps  have  been  taken,  on  the  whole,  in  an  admirable  manner.  Public 
attention  has  been  arrested.  Public  interest  has  been  aroused.  Public 
and  legislative  opinions  are  forming.  Obviously,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  our  engineering  societies  should  take  an  immediate 


44  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY 

and  active  part  in  working  out  the  complex  problems  of  conservation 
and,  if  possible,  in  directing  the  formation  of  public  opinion  along 
lines  that  will  result  in  the  enactment  of  just  and  wise  laws. 

The  economic  utilization  of  our  natural  resources  is  the  funda- 
mental problem  of  all  engineering.  If  the  President  of  the  United 
States  were  to  summon  a  conference  of  Governors  at  the  White  House 
for  the  purpose  of  considering  and  promoting  reforms  in  current 
medical  practice,  the  medical  profession  undoubtedly  would  be  greatly 
interested  and  would  manifest  its  interest  by  assuming  proper  and 
unchallenged  prominence  in  discussing  the  questions  raised.  If  such 
a  conference  were  to  assemble  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  initiating 
reforms  in  the  machinery  and  methods  for  the  administration  of 
justice,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  but  that  the  lawyers  would  manifest 
their  vital  interest  not  only  by  exposition  and  discussion  but  also  by 
actual  leadership. 

The  conference  of  governors  in  May,  1908,  called  by  President 
Roosevelt  to  consider  and  advise  regarding  conservation  of  the  natural 
resources  of  the  United  States,  raised  questions  in  respect  of  which 
the  engineer  occupies  a  position  closely  analogous  to  that  which  the 
medical  doctor  holds  in  respect  of  medical  practice  and  the  lawyer  in 
respect  of  legal  procedure  and  administration. 

The  analogy  is  not  perfect  nor  does  responsibility  for  final  decision 
rest  exclusively  upon  the  engineer,  but  it  is  peculiarly  the  patriotic 
duty  of  the  Engineering  Profession  to  enlighten  the  public  by  unbiased 
consideration  and  accurate  exposition  of  essential  pertinent  facts, 
physical  and  economic. 

—  I  propose  in  this  paper:  1.  To  illustrate  the  function  of  electricity 
in  the  conservation  of  natural  resources.  2.  To  summarize  statistically 
the  present  power  requirements  of  the  United  States  and  present 
certain  data  (necessarily  far  from  complete)  relative  to  water  power 
available.  3.  To  point  out  certain  economic  bearings  of  the  plan 
which  proposes  the  imposition  of  a  tax  on  water  powers  and  the  use  of 
the  proceeds  for  improvement  and  construction  of  inland  waterways. 

The   Function   op   Electricity   in   Conservation. 

The  part  which  electricity  is  destined  to  play  in  the  conservation 
of  our  energy  resources  is  demonstrated  clearly  by  what  it  already  has 
accomplished.  Three  typical  illustrations  will  suffice:  1.  The  saving 
of  coal  by  the  utilization  of  water  power,  as  illustrated  by  the  plants  of 
the  Niagara  Ealls  Power  Company.  2.  The  saving  of  coal  by  the  sub- 
stitution of  large  and  highly  efficient  steam  plants  for  smaller  and  less 
efficient  plants,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  Electric 
Supply  Company.  3.  The  saving  of  coal  used  for  transportation  pur- 
poses by  the  substitution  of  large  and  highly  efficient  engine  units  for 
comparatively  small  and  inefficient  locomotive  units,  as  accomplished. 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  45 

for  example,  by  the  Interborough  Eapid  Transit  Company  of  New 
York. 

In  each  case  the  economy  is  due  primarily  to  the  fact  that  we 
can  now  use  for  transmitting  and  distributing  power  the  electricity  pro- 
duced in  dynamos,  distributed  by  conductors,  and  utilized  by  motors, 
all  of  remarkably  high  efficiency. 

The  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company. — During  the  year  1908,  the 
plants  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company  delivered  an  output  of 
560,000,000  kw-hr.  Had  this  output  been  generated  by  large  modern 
central  stations  using  steam  power,  their  consumption  of  coal  would 
have  approximated  2,000  tons  per  day.  Were  the  users  of  Niagara 
power  dependent  to-day  upon  their  own  individual  steam  plants,  they 
would  use  in  the  aggregate  not  less  than  3,000  tons  of  coal  per  day; 
in  other  words,  more  than  1,000,000  tons  per  annum.  If  this  power 
were  replacing  steam,  as  used  under  average  conditions  in  our  manu- 
facturing cities,  instead  of  being  used  for  the  most  part  in  supplying 
power  to  comparatively  a  small  number  of  customers  using  large  blocks 
of  power,  it  would  replace  and  save  nearly  2,000,000  tons  of  coal  per 
annum. 

Important  as  is  the  saving  of  coal  from  the  standpoint  of  con- 
servation of  our  natural  resources,  perhaps  the  most  striking  feature 
of  the  Niagara  power  enterprise  is  the  demonstration  which  it  affords 
of  the  great  industrial  value  of  cheap  power;  the  greater  part  of  the 
output  of  the  plants  being  utilized  to-day  by  electrochemical  indus- 
tries of  great  value  to  the  community,  all  of  which  have  been  stimu- 
lated and  some  of  which  owe  their  very  existence  to  their  ability  to 
obtain  power  at  very  low  cost. 

The  North-East  Coast  Power  System. — The  North-East  Coast 
Power  System,  supplying  electric  power  to  the  great  industrial  dis- 
trict in  and  about  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  effects  a  very  important 
economy  in  coal  consumption.  In  a  paper  presented  at  the  Middles- 
brough meeting  of  the  British  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  in  1908,  Mr. 
Charles  H.  Merz,  the  engineer  under  whose  able  direction  this  large 
enterprise  has  been  carried  out,  shows  that  the  economies  resulting 
from  centralization  of  power  development  and  electric  distribution 
have  led  to  the  construction  of  plants  now  in  operation  aggregating 
102,000  h.  p.  installed;  that  additional  plant  aggregating  34,600  h.  p.  is 
under  construction;  that  during  the  last  4  years  the  demand  has 
increased  at  a  rate  averaging  20,000  h.p.  per  annum;  that  to-day  every 
shipyard  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Tyne  is  purchasing  practically  all 
of  its  power  supply  in  the  form  of  electricity;  that  the  system  is  now: 

"Kesponsible  for  the  supply  of  current  to  80  miles  (single  track)  of 
electrified  railway,  four  tramway  systems,  the  lighting  in  towns  having 
populations  aggregating  over  700,000,  motive  power  to  the  extent  of 
85,000  horse-power  and  electrochemical  works  over  12,000  horse-power.". 


46  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OP  ENERGY 

Not  only  has  Mr.  Merz  established  highly  successful  steam-driven 
power  plants  in  a  district  where  the  cost  of  coal  ranges  from  7s.  to  9s. 
per  ton,  but  he  has  demonstrated  that  important  economy  of  coal 
consumption  results  from  the  supply  of  electric  power  to  the  collieries 
for  their  mining  operations. 

Referring  to  this  very  interesting  feature  of  the  development,  Mr. 
Merz  says; 

"The  output  of  coal  from  Northumberland  and  Durham  in  1906  was 
over  62,000,000  tons,  and,  according  to  the  Report  of  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  Coal  Supplies,  between  6  and  8  per  cent,  of  the 
total  coal  brought  to  bank  is  used  by  the  collieries  for  the  purpose  of 
power  generation.  From  the  make  of  coke  *  *  *  it  appears  that 
about  one-fifth  of  the  coal  mined  on  the  north-east  coast  is  converted 
into  coke.  Making  a  liberal  allowance,  therefore,  for  the  power  at 
present  used  from  the  surplus  heat  resulting  from  the  coking  process, 
the  collieries  of  Northumberland  and  Durham  must  burn  for  their  own 
power  requirements  some  2,500,000  tons  of  coal  per  annum.  As  the 
almost  invariable  rule  is  to  work  non-condensing,  as  the  steam  piping 
is  usually  long,  and  as  a  large  portion  of  the  load  is  intermittent,  it  is 
certain,  and  is  proved  by  experience  in  this  district,  that  the  same 
power  can  be  provided  electrically  in  a  large  central  power  station  by 
the  consumption  of  less  than  a  quarter  of  this  coal.  Apart,  therefore, 
from  the  efficient  utilization  of  waste  heat,  *  *  *  apart  from  the 
saving  of  coal  in  ship-building  and  engineering  works,  and  apart  from 
the  saving  resulting  from  the  electrification  of  railways,  the  application 
of  electricity  to  coal-mines  in  this  district,  when  as  complete  as  that  to 
the  Tyne  shipyards,  will  render  available  for  outside  sale  over  If 
millions  of  tons  coal,  equivalent  to,  say,  over  half  a  million  sterling 
per  annum." 

The  Power  Plants  of  the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Company 
of  New  YorTc. — The  output  of  the  power  houses  of  the  Interborough 
Rapid  Transit  Company,  New  York,  for  the  year  1908,  was  409,000,000 
kw-hr.  The  consumption  of  coal  was  494,000  tons.  In  a  paper  pre- 
sented at  the  214th  meeting  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical 
Engineers,  by  the  writer  and  Mr.  H.  St.  Clair  Putnam,*  comparison 
was  made  from  the  company's  operating  records  of  the  fuel  consump- 
tion upon  the  Manhattan  elevated  lines  during  the  year  ending  June 
30,  1901,  when  steam  locomotives  were  employed,  and  during  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1904,  when  electricity  was  used.  I  quote  from  this 
paper : 

"During  the  period  first  mentioned,  one  pound  of  coal  produced 
2.23  ton-miles,  if  the  weight  of  the  locomotive  be  included,  and  1.5  ton- 
miles,  if  the  weight  of  the  cars  only  be  considered. 

"During  the  latter  period  (electric  traction),  one  pound  of  coal 
burned  at  the  power  house  produced  3.85  ton-miles,  excluding  weight 
of  locomotives;  therefore,  the  ratio  of  ton-mileage  per  pound  of  coal 

*  Transactions,  A.  I.  E.  E.,  1907,  Vol.  XXVI,  p.  81. 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  47 

in  favor  of  electric  operation  was  2.57  to  1.    Including  weight  of  loco- 
motive it  was  1.72  to  1. 

"The  average  speed  under  electric  operation  was  approximately  2 
miles  an  hour  greater  than  that  attained  by  steam,  and  if  correction 
be  made  for  this  difference  the  ratio  of  ton-mileage  per  pound  of  coal, 
excluding  weight  of  locomotives  is  approximately  3  to  1,  and  including 
locomotives,  2  to  1  in  favor  of  electric  traction." 

If,  therefore,  we  can  conceive  the  possibility  of  operating  to-day, 
by  locomotives,  the  entire  service  of  the  elevated  and  subway  lines  of 
the  Interborough  Company,  it  appears  that  the  saving  in  coal  con- 
sumption effected  amounts  to  not  less  than  988,000  tons  of  coal  per 
annum. 

In  each  of  the  three  typical  cases  cited,  it  will  be  noted  that  elec- 
tricity results  in  a  radical  economy  of  coal.  That  it  also  results  in  a 
material  saving  of  household  and  other  property  which,  in  industrial 
communities  using  large  numbers  of  small  steam  plants,  suff(er  rapid 
deterioration  by  the  effects  of  smoke  and  dust;  that  it  tends  strongly 
to  improve  the  appearance  of  our  cities  and  conditions  which  affect 
comfort  and  health,  are  facts  not  all  of  which  are  strictly  pertinent 
to  a  consideration  of  the  subject  before  us,  but  may,  nevertheless,  be 
mentioned  in  this  connection. 

Where  steam  is  used  to  generate  power  in  large  plants  from  which 
electricity  conveys  it  to  users,  economy  results  not  only  from  the 
employment  of  comparatively  large  power-generating  units,  but  also 
from  the  introduction  of  plant  economies  and  a  degree  of  skill  not 
attainable  in  smaller  plants. 

Industrial  Use  of  Power. 

From  the  latest  available  census  returns,  the  following  tabulation 

of  aggregate  capacity  of  prime  movers  used  in  the  United  States  at 

the  dates  and  in  the  respective  industries  mentioned,  is  compiled: 

Installed 
horse  power. 

Manufactures,  census  1905 12,765,594 

Mines  and  quarries,  census  1902 2,753,555 

Street  railways,  census  1902 1,359,289     ^ 

Electric  light  and  power  stations,  census  1902 .  .  1,845,048      ^' 
Custom  flour,  grist  and  saw  mills,  census  1900 

(omitted  from  census  1905) 883,685 

Telephones,  telegraph  and  fire-alarm  systems, 

census   1902 3,148 

The  United  States  census  reports  since  1870  afford  data  from  which 
interesting  *  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  respective  rates  of  in- 
crease of  power  used  for  various  industrial  purposes,  the  relative 
proportions  of  steam  and  water  power  now  in  service  and  the  enormous 
growth  of  electric  motor  applications  may  be  investigated.     Such  a 


48  ELECTEICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY 

Y^  study  has  been  made  by  Mr.  H.  St.  Clair  Putnam,  of  New  York,  and 
\    the   results   set  forth  in   an   interesting  paper   on   "Conservation   of 
I    Power  Resources/'*  presented  by  him  at  the  conference  on  the  Con- 
servation of  Natural  Resources,  held  at  the  White  House,  May  13-15, 
£^908.    Mr.  Putnam  employed  the  method  of  constructing  curves  based 
upon  census  statistics  beginning  with  the  year  1870,  and  projecting 
the  resulting  respective  curves  from  the  dates  of  the  latest  census 
figures  to  the  year  1910.    Making  due  allowance  for  the  check  to  our 
industrial  progress,  which  began  in  1907,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  at  the 
present  time  the  aggregate  horse  power  of  prime  movers  installed  for 
industrial  use  in  the  United  States,  exclusive  of  steam  railways,  ap- 
proximates 25,000,000. 

In  round  numbers,  50,000  steam  locomotives  are  owned  by  our  rail- 
way systems.  Based  upon  maximum  drawbar  pull,  these  locomotives 
would  be  capable  of  developing  about  30,000,000  h.p.,  but  the  average 
power  actually  developed  on  a  24-hr.  basis,  when  averaged  over  the 
entire  year,  approximates  only  about  2,000,000  h.p. 

Were  all  the  railways  of  the  United  States  operated  by  electricity 
generated  in  large  and  properly  located  power  plants,  the  aggregate 
installed  capacity  of  these  plants  would  approximate  4,000,000  h.p. 

Qf  the  grand  total  of  25,000,000  h.p.  installed  for  industrial  pur- 
poses, exclusive  of  steam  railway  operation,  water  motors  represent, 
in   round   numbers,    6,000,000   h.p.,   and   gas    and   oil   engines    about 
a00,000.h.p. 
iV      I  quote  from  Mr.  Putnam's  paper: 

*        "Prior  to  1870  the  use  of  water  power  in  manufactures  exceeded  that 

Lof  steam  power.  W^ater  power  expressed  in  percentage  of  the  total 
power  employed  has  since  steadily  declined,  falling  from  48.3%  in  1870 
to  11.2%  in  1905.  During  the  corresponding  period,  steam  power  in- 
creased from  51.8%  in  1870,  to  78.2%  in  1900.  The  census  of  1900 
showed  a  marked  falling  off  in  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  percentage 
of  steam  power  used  as  compared  with  the  rate  prior  to  1890,  and  this 
was  accentuated  in  the  census  of  1905,  when  the  percentage  of  steam 

^power  fell  to  73.6%  of  the  total.  This  check  to  the  ascendency  of 
directly  applied  steam  power  was  due  to  the  introduction  of  electric 
power.  In  1890  electric  power  was  negligible.  In  1900  it  constituted 
4.8%  of  the  total.  In  1905  this  had  increased  to  11.8% — a  marvelously 
rapid  growth  when  the  aggregate  increase  of  over  1,000,000  h.p.  in  five 
years  is  considered.  If  the  present  rate  of  increase  prevails  until  1910, 
electric  power  will  have  reached  18  per  cent,  of  the  total,  and  steam 

^^ower  will  have  dropped  to  68%." 

The  facts  to'  which  I  have  called  attention  point  unquestionably  to 
further  and  rapid  progress  of  the  work  of  substituting  electric  motors 
for  small  steam  engines.  While  this  development  has  made  a  highly 
significant  beginning  in  the  field  of  transportation,  in  the  replacement 

*  Proceedings,  A.  I.  E.  E.,  Vol.  XXVII,  p.  1397. 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  49 

of  steam  locomotives  for  elevated  and  subway  service  and  for  terminal 
operation,  it  has  already  covered  a  substantial  portion  of  the  entire 
field  of  stationary  operation.  Its  economies  and  their  advantages  are 
fast  becoming  matters  of  common  knowledge.  The  cost  of  electric 
apparatus  in  general  has  decreased  materially  in  the  last  decade,  and 
the  day  appears  not  far  distant  when  the  isolated  steam  engine  plant 
as  used  for  general  industrial  purposes  will  be  practically  banished 
from  our  cities. 

Our  ability  to  utilize  in  the  near  future  a  large  proportion  of  our 
water  powers  depends  primarily  upon  the  distance  across  which  power 
can   be   electrically   transmitted   at   practicable  costs.     This   in   turn 
depends  upon  the  limits  of  potential  against  which  transmission  lines 
can  be  insulated  in  a  manner  which  secures  reasonable  continuity  of 
service.    No  precise  limit  of  practicable  distance  can  be  fixed  nor  is  it~] 
necessary  here  to  enter  into  a  detailed  discussion  of  the  subject.    It  is 
sufficient  to  point  out  that  power  to-day  is  being  transmitted  from 
Niagara  Falls  to  Syracuse,  a  distance  of  160  miles.    In  California,  it  j 
has   been   transmitted   successfully   a   distance   exceeding   200   miles.  J 
While  200-mile  transmission  does  not  bring  every  water  power  of  the 
country  within  reach  of  an  adequate  market,  it  does  obviously  suffice 
as  regards  a  large  proportion  of  our  hydraulic  resources  not  as  yet 
utilized* 

Available  Water  Power. 

From  a  purely  physical  standpoint,  an  estimate  of  horse  power 
available  in  the  case  of  a  given  stream  requires  accurate  topographical 
survey  and  careful  measurement  of  flow  extending  over  a  considerable 
period  of  years.  Much  work  of  very  great  value  has  been  accomplished 
in  these  directions  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  but  much 
still  remains  to  be  done.  Systematic  prosecution  of  this  work  is  essen- 
tial to  the  ultimate  solution  of  our  problems  of  power  conservation 
and  the  influence  of  the  Engineering  Profession  should  be  strongly 
exerted  to  insure  the  effective  extension  and  continuance  of  these  sur- 
veys and  measurements. 

The  majority  of  estimates  of  "water  power  available  in  the  United 
States,"  which  have  been  made,  do  not  and  cannot  pretend  to  be  exact. 
Obviously,  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  aggregate  horse 
power  which  may.  be  considered  available,  if  the  problem  be  looked  at 
from  a  purely  physical  standpoint  without  reference  to  cost  of  develop- 
ment, and  the  amount  which  is  available  if  cost  of  development  and 
transmission  to  an  adequate  market  is  considered. 

From  the  economic  standpoint,  determination  of  the  aggregate  horse 
power  which  a  stream  is  capable  of  developing  involves  a  step-by-step 
examination  of  its  profile  from  its  source  to  its  mouth,  the  approximate 
location  of  sites  where  the  gradient  and  other  topographical  features 


50  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSEEVATION  OP  ENERGY 

indicate  the  practicability  of  development  within  the  limit  of  prac- 
ticable cost  as  fixed  by  cost  of  competing  steam  power  and  the  sum- 
mation of  the  powers  thus  located.  Following  this  general  method, 
Mr.  M.  O.  Leighton,  Chief  Hydrographer,  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  estimates  the  available  water  power  of  the  upper  Mississippi 
River  and  tributaries  at  2,000,000  h.p.  and  that  of  the  southern  Ap- 
palachian region  at  approximately  3,000,000  h.p.  The  aggregate  avail- 
able water  power  in  the  State  of  Washington  has  been  estimated  at 
3,000,000  h.p.  and  that  of  northern  California  at  5,000,000  h.p.,  but 
these  figures  are  merely  approximations  and  cannot  be  regarded  as 
authoritative. 

The  report  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  acting  as  the 
Section  of  Waters  of  the  "National  Conservation  Commission,"  before 
the  recent  Joint  Conservation  Conference  in  Washington,  states: 

"The  theoretical  power  of  the  streams  is  over  230,000,000  horse- 
power; the  amount  now  in  use  is  5,250,000  horse-power.  The  amount 
available  at  a  cost  comparable  with  that  of  steam  installation  is  esti- 
mated at  37,000,000  horse-power,  and  the  amount  available  at  reason- 
able cost  at  75,000,000  to  150,000,000  horse-power." 

The  assumptions  and  facts  upon  which  these  estimates  are  based 
are  not  set  forth  in  the  report  referred  to  with  that  precision  which 
is  essential  to  correct  judgment  of  their  value.  The  amount  named  as 
"available  at  a  cost  comparable  with  that  of  steam  installation," 
namely  37,000,000  h.p.,  exceeds  the  aggregate  mechanical  power  now 
in  use  within  the  borders  of  the  United  States  and  suggests  the  enor- 
mous saving  in  coal  which  would  result  from  anything  like  a  general 
development  and  utilization  of  our  water  powers. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  aggregate  amount  which  ultimately  can 
be  utilized,  certain  guiding  facts  are  obvious  and  cannot  be  contro- 
verted. Among  these  are:  1.  Under  average  conditions  every  hydrau- 
lic horse  power  utilized  for  industrial  purposes  in  10-hr.  service  saves 
at  least  7.5  net  tons  of  coal  per  annum.  2.  Present  knowledge  does 
not  permit  us  to  obtain  from  coal  burned  for  power  purposes,  even 
under  conditions  of  best  commercial  practice,  more  than  10%  of  the 
energy  which  it  contains;  under  average  conditions  less  than  5%  is 
utilized.  3.  Electricity  enables  us  to  substitute  a  few  and  compara- 
tively efficient  steam  plants  for  large  numbers  of  small  and  relatively 
wasteful  installations;  thus  effecting  important  economies  not  only  in 
fuel  consumption,  but  also  in  other  directions.  It  also  enables  us  to 
transmit  and  utilize  in  available  markets  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  aggregate  water  power  of  our  streams. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  it  will  be  admitted  that  from  the  stand- 
point of  conservation  of  our  power  resources,  the  attitude  of  the 
Federal  and  State  governments  should  be  such  as  will  hasten  and 
not  retard  the  development  of  our  water  powers.     Any  policy  which 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  51 

operates  to  retard  this  utilization  is  a  damage  to  the  community,  not 
only  because  it  tends  to  increase  the  average  cost  of  power  and,  there- 
fore, of  transportation  and  the  manifold  products  of  our  manu- 
facturing industries,  but  also  because  it  tends  to  prolong  and  even 
increase  the,  at  present,  necessarily  wasteful  utilization  of  coal  supplies 
which  can  never  be  replaced.  Such  a  policy,  therefore,  is  on  its  face 
in  direct  contravention  of  the  true  principles  of  conservation.  __ 

Water  powers  not  hitherto  appropriated  under  existing  laws  belong 
to  the  state  and  unquestionably  should  be  utilized  in  a  manner  which 
will  secure  the  utmost  practicable  advantage  to  the  community.  There 
is  every  reason  why  they  should  not  be  appropriated  in  perpetuity 
either  by  individuals  or  corporations.  In  permitting  their  appropria- 
tion and  use  for  a  limited  period,  the  state  undoubtedly  should  obtain 
the  best  terms  possible,  but  the  fact  that  prompt  utilization  means 
not  only  a  saving  of  coal  resources  but  a  reduction  in  cost  of  manu- 
facture and  transportation  is  a  consideration  of  the  utmost  weight.  As 
compared  with  the  direct  revenue  which  can  be  expected  to  result 
from  levying  a  direct  tax  upon  water  powers,  this  consideration,  from 
a  broad  economic  standpoint,  is  in  all  probability  controlling.  Doubt- 
less the  state  can  tax  water  powers  and  can  devote  the  proceeds  of  such 
tax  to  any  special  purpose  which  it  may  elect,  for  example,  the  con- 
struction of  inland  waterways,  as  has  been  proposed,  but  correct 
determination  of  the  wisdom  or  folly  of  such  an  arrangement  requires 
careful  consideration  and  at  least  approximate  knowledge  of  the 
quantitative  values  of  the  economic  results  to  be  expected. 

In  a  short  speech  before  the  Conference  of  Governors  at  the  White 
House  in  May,  1908,  referring  to  water  powers.  President  Eoosevelt 
said: 

"My  position  has  been  simply  that  where  a  privilege,  which  may  be  of 
untold  value  in  the  future  to  the  private  individuals  granted  it,  is 
asked  from  the  Federal  Government,  that  the  Federal  Government  shall 
put  on  the  grant  a  condition  that  it  shall  not  be  a  grant  in  perpetuity. 
Make  the  term  long  enough  so  that  the  corporation  shall  have  an  ample 
material  reward.  The  corporation  deserves  it.  Give  an  ample  reward 
to  the  captain  of  industry  but  not  an  indeterminate  reward.  Put  in  a 
provision  that  will  enable  our  children  at  the  end  of  a  certain  specified 
period  to  say  what  in  their  judgment  should  be  doiie  with  that  great 
natural  value  which  is  of  use  to  the  grantee  only  because  the  people 
as  a  whole  allow  him  to  use  it.  It  is  eminently  right  that  he  should 
be  allowed  to  make  ample  profit  from  his  development  of  it  but  make 
him  pay  something  for  the  privilege,  and  make  the  grant  for  a  fixed 
period,  so  that  when  the  conditions  change,  as  in  all  probability  they 
will  change,  our  children — the  Nation  of  the  future — shall  have  the 
right  to  determine  the  conditions  under  which  that  privilege  shall  then 
be  enjoyed." 

With  the  ideas  thus  vigorously  expressed,  every  good  American 
citizen  must  be  in  sympathy.    To  the  admirable  exposition  of  principles 


62  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OP  ENERGY 

included  in  the  preliminary  report  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Com- 
mission, dated  February  26,  1908,  few  engineers  will  take  exception. 
But  the  attitude  of  some  of  the  speakers  at  the  recent  Conservation 
Conference  in  Washington,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  second  gathering 
of  the  Governors  of  the  States,  clearly  evidenced  a  disposition  to  beg 
one  of  the  fundamental  questions  which  arises  at  the  very  threshold 
of  consideration  of  the  utilization  of  our  streams ;  namely,  the  question 
of  the  real  economic  value  of  inland  waterways.  The  minds  of  some 
who  are  taking  an  active  part  in  the  discussion  of  this  great  economic 
question  apparently  start  with  two  assumptions:  1.  That  the  economic 
value  of  a  vast  system  of  inland  waterways  is  admittedly  so  great  as 
to  justify  practically  any  expenditure  in  its  development.  2.  That  the 
water  powers  upon  our  streams  are  inexhaustible  mines  of  wealth 
capable  of  yielding,  under  a  general  system  of  taxation,  large  revenues. 
From  these  premises  the  conclusion  that  water  powers  should  be  taxed 
to  pay  for  waterways  is  easily  deduced. 

To  the  engineer  it  is  evident  at  once  that  before  any  conclusion 
involving  expenditure  of  large  amounts  either  of  public  money  or 
private  capital  is  agreed  to,  both  premises  upon  which  that  conclusion 
is  based  should  be  critically  examined. 

I  do  not  propose  in  this  paper  to  attempt  anything  purporting  to, be 
an  exhaustive  discussion  of  this  complex  subject.  Personally  I  am 
frank  to  admit  I  have  found  it  impossible  from  my  present  knowledge 
to  form  definite  and  final  opinions  in  respect  of  some  of  its  phases. 
If  our  national  engineering  societies,  during  the  coming  year,  will 
procure  from  their  members  best  qualified  by  special  knowledge  to 
supply  pertinent  facts  and  suggestions,  carefully  considered  papers 
discussing  the  comparative  economics  of  transportation  by  rail  and  by 
inland  waterways,  much  light  will  be  thrown  upon  this  very  important 
and  far-reaching  question.  At  present,  data  apparently  essential  to 
well-grounded  judgment  have  not  been  collected  and  compared  in  a 
manner  to  justify  formation  of  definite  and  final  opinions  which  can 
be  expressed  in  precise  terms ;  opinions  which  may  be  expected  to  stand 
the  test  of  time. 

In  calling  attention  to  certain  considerations  which  apparently 
tend  to  controvert  the  present  popular  impression  that  a  radical 
improvement  and  extension  of  our  inland  waterways  is  the  natural 
and  proper  solution  of  the  great  problem  of  freight  transportation,  I 
trust  it  will  be  understood  that  I  am  not  approaching  the  subject  from 
the  standpoint  of  one  whose  interests  are  identified  with  railways. 
Such  is  not  the  case.  The  electrical  engineer  has  everything  to  gain 
and  probably  nothing  to  lose  from  a  policy  which  during  the  next  10 
years  may  result  in  the  appropriation  of  from  $50,000,000  to 
$100,000,000  per  annum  for  the  improvement  of  our  waterways  and 
development  of  our  water  powers.     An  engineer's  first  duty  in  a  case 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  63 

of  this  kind  is  to  bring  any  special  knowledge  which  he  possesses  to 
bear  upon  the  economic  problem  presented,  to  form  and  to  state  his 
opinions  absolutely  without  bias.  In  our  offices  and  in  the  fiel(r,"we  ^i 
may  be  retained  properly  to  represent  this  or  that  special  interest,  ; 
but  on  the  floors  of  our  engineering  societies  our  proper  attitude  is  ' 
that  of  the  man  of  science  interested  solely  in  the  facts,  their  causes,^ 
relations,   and  consequences. 

In  considering  the  proposition  to  impose  a  tax  upon  water  powers  and 
devote  the  proceeds  of  this  tax  to  the  construction  of  a  system  of  inland 
waterways,  it  is  clear  that  the  first  effect  of  such  a  tax  is  to  retard  the 
development  of  water  powers  unless  some  compensating  advantage  is 
offered.  It  is  also  evident  that  such  a  tax  operates  indirectly  to  stimu- 
late the  consumption  of  coal,  and  that  if  it  be  decided  that  we  can 
afford  to  tax  manufacturers  indirectly  in  order  to  improve  transporta- 
tion facilities  it  would  be  wiser,  from  the  standpoint  of  conservation 
of  our  power  resources,  to  impose  a  tax  upon  coal  used  for  power 
purposes.  A  tax  of  $3.00  per  horse  power  ($4.00  per  kilowatt)  per 
annum  is  equivalent  to  a  tax  of  40c.  a  ton  (2  000  lb.)  on  coal  used 
for  power  purposes  in  manufacturing,  if  we  assume  that  5  lb.  of  coal 
per  horse  power-hour  are  used.  A  proposal  to  impose  any  such  tax  on 
coal  used  for  power  purposes  and  use  the  proceeds  for  the  construction 
of  inland  waterways  probably  would  command  little  influential  sup- 
port and  yet  a  similar  proposal,  as  applied  to  water  powers,  has  received 
weighty  endorsement  and  apparently  is  highly  approved  by  those  who 
are  especially  interested  in  the  development  and  extension  of  inland 
waterways. 

In  the  report  of  "The  Inland  Waterways  Commission,  acting  as 
the  Section  of  "Waters  of  the  National  Conservation  Committee  before 
the  last  Joint  Conservation  Conference,"  I  find  the  following  referring 
to  the  uses  of  water  power  in  our  streams: 

"The  paramount  use  should  be  that  of  water  supply;  next  should 
follow  navigation  in  humid  regions  and  irrigation  in  arid  regions.  The 
development  of  power  on  the  navigable  and  source  streams  should  be 
kept  subordinate  to  the  primary  and  secondary  uses  of  the  waters; 
though  other  things  equal,  the  development  of  power  should  be  encour- 
aged, not  only  to  reduce  the  drain  on  other  resources,  but  because 
properly  designed  reservoirs  and  power  plants  retard  the  run-off  and  so 
aid  in  the  control  of  the  streams  for  navigation  and  other  uses." 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  the  conclusion  has  been 
reached  that  in  humid  regions  the  development  of  power  on  our 
streams  is  less  important  than  the  improvement  of  navigation.  To 
one  familiar,  for  example,  with  power  developments  in  the  cotton  mill 
district  of  the  Carolinas  and  with  the  character  of  the  streams  there 
utilized  so  extensively  and  with  such  vast  advantage  to  the  com- 
munity for  power  purposes,  the  idea  that  any  conceivable  use  of  these 


'J 


54  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY 

streams  for  purposes  of  navigation  can  be  comparable  to  their  value 
as  producers  of  power  is  to  say  the  least  highly  improbable. 

Obviously  before  any  such  general  policy  as  that  recommended 
is  adopted,  we  should  have  assurance  that  the  imposition  of  such  a  tax 
will  not  cost  the  community  more  than  the  resulting  improvement  of 
transportation  facilities  is  worth.  Cheap  power  is  a  factor  of  great 
importance,  both  in  manufacturing  and  transportation.  According  to 
the  census  of  manufactures  taken  in  1905,  the  gross  output  of  our 
factories  and  mills  had  a  value  of  $16,866,706,985.  The  product  repre- 
sented $1,152.00  per  horse  power  installed.  The  wages  paid  amounted 
to  $248.00  per  horse  power  installed. 

In  the  same  year,  the  aggregate  gross  receipts  of  our  railways  were 
$2,325,765,167,  or  about  14  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  manufactured 
products. 

The  object  sought  in  constructing  inland  waterways  is  reduction 
in  cost  of  transportation.  The  proposal  to  impose  a  tax  which  will 
operate  to  increase  costs,  in  a  business  amounting  to  nearly 
$17,000,000,000  per  annum,  in  order  to  attain  an  undefined  advantage 
in  reduction  of  cost  in  a  business  of  less  than  one-seventh  that  amount, 
calls  for  something  further  in  the  way  of  analysis  than  has  yet  come 
under  miy  observation  in  this  connection.  The  fact  that  manufacturing 
costs  in  America  are  in  general  much  higher  than  in  Europe,  while  our 
cost  of  transportation  per  ton-mile  is  now  materially  lower  than  can 
be  found  elsewhere,  emphasizes  the  impression  which  results  from  a 
moment's  consideration  of  the  respective  gross  volumes  of  business  in 
these  allied  fields  of  industry. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  suggest  a  more  fruitful  subject  for  un- 
prejudiced analysis  and  illuminating  exposition  by  competent  members 
of  our  national  engineering  societies,  in  the  immediate  future,  than 
the  comparative  economic  advantages  of  railways  and  inland  water- 
ways. Facts  in  this  field  are  urgently  needed  and  should  be  supplied 
before  public  sentiment,  unenlightened  by  unbiased  competent  advice, 
and  influenced,  perhaps,  by  prejudice  and  the  clamor  of  local  interests, 
shall  crystallize  in  legislative  enactment  or  executive  rulings.  Within 
the  last  two  years,  my  firm,  in  considering  problems  presented  by  the 
substitution  of  electricity  for  steam  in  railway  operation,  has  carefully 
studied  the  cost  of  operation  of  steam  railways  in  the  United  States, 
using  as  the  basis  of  this  investigation  not  only  the  valuable  reports 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  but  also  detailed  operating 
cost-sheets  confidentially  furnished  for  the  purpose  by  a  number  of  the 
most  important  railways  in  the  country.  It  also  happens  that  within 
the  same  period  we  have  had  occasion  to  determine  with  great  care  the 
actual  cost  of  operation  of  one  important  canal  system,  and  in  this  con- 
nection have  secured  considerable  information  bearing  upon  the  general 
question  of  the  economics  of  canal  transportation.     The  conclusions 


••«••* 


*      s  •    « 

>  1  >  *  *    • 


ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY  55 

which  we  have  reached  as  a  result  of  these  comparative  investigations 
do  not  support  broadly  and  without  material  qualifications  the  popular 
impression  that  transportation  of  freight  by  inland  waterways,  in 
general,  is  less  expensive  than  transportation  by  railways. 

In  engineering  matters,  general  statements  almost  invariably  are 
subject  to  exceptions  and  I  am  not  prepared  to  assert  broadly  that  the 
construction  of  canals  for  transportation  purposes  is  a  mistake.  I  do 
assert,  however,  that  in  the  majority  of  specific  instances  that  have 
come  under  my  observation  the  facts  are  far  from  justifying,  from  an 
economic  standpoint,  a  propaganda  aiming  at  the  development  of  a 
general  system  of  inland  waterways  beyond  what  may  be  attained  by 
reasonable  improvement  of  the  channels  of  navigable  streams  with 
such  comparatively  short  inter-connecting  canals  as  may  beyond  rea- 
sonable doubt  be  justified  by  the  results  attained. 

As  regards  the  proposed  "concurrent  development  of  the  streams 
and  their  sources  for  every  useful  purpose  to  which  they  may  be  put," 
as  it  is  stated  in  the  "declaration  of  principles"  of  the  recent  North 
American  Conservation  Conference,  all  engineers  will  agree  that  each 
stream  should  be  studied  with  reference  to  its  possibilities  "for  domestic 
and  municipal  supply,  irrigation,  navigation,  and  power,  as  interrelated 
public  uses."  But  the  development  of  a  plan  economically  sound  calls 
for  unbiased  consideration  and  fairly  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
economic  value  to  the  community  of  the  resulting  improvement  of 
the  stream  regarded  as  a  waterway  for  transportation.  Obviously  if  we 
begin  by  assuming  that  because  freight  is  carried  across  the  Atlantic 
or  through  the  Great  Lakes  at  less  cost  per  ton-mile  than  it  is  carried 
by  our  railways,  an  increase  in  the  depth  of  channel  or  improved 
regularity  of  flow  of  any  given  inland  stream  will  secure  corresponding 
results,  we  shall  be  misled  and  expenditures  based  upon  any  such 
assumption  will  be  wholly  or  largely  wasted.  Each  case  should  be 
studied  and  competently  studied  on  its  own  merits.  To  tax  water 
powers  for  the  purpose  of  providing  free  waterways,  from  a  broad 
economic  standpoint,  is  a  policy  which,  before  adoption,  should  be 
compared  carefully  with  the  plan  of  imposing  tolls  upon  all  users  of 
inland  waterways  and  using  the  proceeds  to  develop  water  powers  and 
secure  cheaper  power  for  our  manufacturing  industries. 

The  declaration  of  principles  agreed  upon  by  the  recent  North 
American  Conservation  Conference  makes  the  following  statement: 

"We  recognize  the  waters  as  a  primary  resource,  and  we  regard  their 
use  for  domestic  and  municipal  supply,  irrigation,  navigation,  and 
power,  as  interrelated  public  uses,  and  properly  subject  to  public  con- 
trol. We,  therefore,  favor  the  complete  and  concurrent  development  of 
the  streams  and  their  sources  for  every  useful  purpose  to  which  they 
may  be  put." 


56  ELECTRICITY  AND  THE  CONSERVATION  OF  ENERGY 

In  the  preliminary  report  of  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission, 
dated  February  26,  1908,  I  find  the  following: 

"While  navigation  of  the  inland  waterways  declined  with  the  in- 
crease in  rail  transportation  during  the  later  decades  of  the  past 
century,  it  has  become  clear  that  the  time  is  at  hand  for  restoring  and 
developing  such  inland  navigation  and  water  transportation  as  upon 
expert  examination  may  appear  to  confer  a  benefit  commensurate  with 
the  cost,  to  be  utilized  both  independently  and  as  a  necessary  adjunct 
to  rail  transportation."      [The  italics  are  mine.] 

The  fundamental  facts  here  set  forth  will  receive  the  unanimous 
and  enthusiastic  endorsement  of  the  entire  Engineering  Profession.  In 
determining,  however,  how  the  a^irkbte'and'^a^ly  important  objects 
in  view  are  to  be  attained,  every  engineer  should  use  his  best  en- 
deavors to  prevent  fundamental  and  far-reaching  mistakes  which 
easily  may  result  from  action  based  upon  insufficient  or  inaccurate 
knowledge.  ^  ^^ 


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240ct'54Tr 
NOV   2  4  1954    ji;- 


NOV 2  4  1954  LU 
I         14uec'55C(i 


15l«Iar'56HJ 
"^•^I     1956  ^, 

lSAug'58AF 


REC'D  LD 

W  10  1959 


^  1959 

APR    R  rl 


.0 


LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


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16'^^ 


(J60 


57810} 


476 


,..,-r.««f^*l 


OCT 


